Search results for: bulk cash

Multiple Juris Photo

Determined criminals sometimes conceal their illicit cash by laundering it through banks located in multiple jurisdictions.  Criminals are not the only ones concealing assets by using bank accounts in multiple jurisdictions.  Whether you are a divorcing spouse; a creditor in a bankruptcy case; are collecting money owed on a judgment; etc., these ideas may help you search for bank accounts &/or gather legally sufficient evidence about them:

Photo Of Light BulbTHE UNIFORM INTERSTATE DEPOSITIONS AND DISCOVERY ACT (“the UIDDA”)—The UIDDA may apply to your case if you are searching for monies transferred through bank accounts in multiple states in the U.S.  The UIDDA has been codified in N.Y. at CPLR § 3119 & it “provides a streamlined procedure for obtaining disclosure…for use in an action in another state or territory within the United States.” Connors, Practice Commentary, McKinney’s Cons Laws of NY, CPLR § 3119.  Most states in the U.S. have adopted the UIDDA.  This generally makes it easier for you to use subpoenas to depose bank witnesses in multiple states in the U.S.  At these subpoenas, you can also request that the bank witnesses supply copies of the relevant bank account statements; account opening documents & signatory information.

LPhoto Of Light BulbETTERS ROGATORY/FOREIGN LEGAL PROCEEDINGS—Schemes to hide large sums of money often involve parking money offshore in foreign bank accounts.  This money may be transferred offshore by wire transfers; bulk cash smuggling; trade-based money laundering; employing portable valuable commodities like diamonds; etc.  Since the foreign bank witnesses usually reside offshore/lack a nexus to the U.S., you can not compel them to supply bank account information by using a subpoena issued under U.S. laws.  In many countries you can however, employ letters rogatory (a.k.a. letters of request or legal assistance requests).  Letters rogatory are used to try to compel foreign bank witnesses to disclose bank account information.  Besides letters rogatory, there may also be other legal remedies available to you under foreign laws.

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PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS—A highly skilled investigator can sometimes be one of the reasons your asset search or asset recovery succeeds.  Such an investigator will know how to relentlessly dig for information.  One private investigator I know spent 17 years investigating an ultra-high net worth family suspected of concealing more than $100 million dollars in a financial fraud.  A good investigator may also be able to sniff out informant’s tips concerning hidden assets, as suggested by my recent post “An Asset Search By Pursuing Interviews & Tips.”  Finally, additional information about searching for bank account information is available at “5 Things To Be Aware Of When Hiring A PI For A Bank Account Search.”

First image: Spectrumblue/Shutterstock.com.

Second image courtesy of Flickr (Licensed) by One Way Stock

Copyright 2015 Fred L. Abrams

In the Breaking Bad television series, Walter White hid profits from his illegal manufacture of methamphetamine.  He hid illicit drug profits in a crawl space under his house, as the video above partly reveals.  Walter and his wife Skyler also laundered money through the A1A Car Wash.  Walter’s partner in crime, (Breaking Bad’s Jesse Pinkman), purchased real property with illicit cash and drug kingpin Gustavo Fring opened 12 secret Swiss bank accounts.  These asset concealment schemes were described by my post “How Walter White Could Take His Money To A Swiss Bank .”  My post also mentioned Walter could have concealed his illicit profits by using diamonds, as set forth at “Secreting Assets Without A Border Trace.”

“Secreting Assets Without A Border Trace” discussed the fact pattern of a Ponzi schemer who might have travelled to Luxembourg and then concealed Ponzi scheme proceeds in a secret bank account there.  Besides the above-mentioned asset concealment schemes, there are countless others.  The following posts also describe what conceivably could have been fact patterns involving asset concealment schemes.

Video: Courtesy of AMC Network Entertainment, LLC

Copyright 2015 Fred L. Abrams

This is the third post in the “Divorce & Hidden Money” series:

One divorcing wife explained to me that she believed her husband had hidden money in offshore bank accounts.  This divorcing wife found a box her husband inadvertently left  in the basement after he moved out of their marital residence.  The box had an account opening application from one offshore bank and brochures from others.

Another divorcing wife found some correspondence at the family’s summer home.  The correspondence  was between her husband and the foreign attorney who helped establish the husband’s secret offshore bank accounts.  A different divorcing wife found a scrap of paper on which her husband had scrawled the name of a Swiss banker and a Swiss financial account number.

The above-described matters raised the same question, how could these husbands secretly transfer funds across international borders into offshore bank accounts?  Like narco-traffickers, tax evaders, terrorist financiers and others, divorcing spouses may use the following methods to secretly transfer assets:

Bulk Cash Smuggling– Determined criminals routinely smuggle cash through porous borders.  Illicit cash couriers for instance, travel through Mexico-U.S. border crossings on behalf of  Mexican drug cartels.  German tax cheats are also known to smuggle undeclared cash into Liechtenstein by stashing the cash in luggage and then driving with it across the German-Liechtenstein border.

Portable Valuable Commodities Like Diamonds & Jewelry– After his arrest, Bernard Madoff seemingly tried to transfer watches, cufflinks and other jewelry worth more than $1 million.  Madoff attempted to mail these items to friends and relatives.  Bradley Birkenfeld the whistleblower, is believed to have similarly smuggled diamonds in a tube of toothpaste while on a jet flying across U.S.-Swiss borders.

Continue Reading Divorce & Hidden Money: Four Ways Assets Can Be Secretly Transferred

As a DEA Special Agent, Donnie worked in Bolivia, Puerto Rico and Peru.  He had also been a liaison with the Mexican Federal Judicial Police.  After retiring from the DEA, Donnie taught Iraqi border policeman a variety of things, including how to detect cash and drugs hidden through smuggling.  Through his work, Donnie became highly skilled at following money trails in order to interdict illicit drugs and other assets.

At the August 16, 2013 “Asset Search News Roundup”,  Donnie discussed a Mexican court’s release of drug kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero.  Rafael Caro Quintero is accused of participating in the heinous murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.  At the August 16th Roundup, Donnie disclosed he became a DEA Special Agent because Kiki had been one.  I asked Donnie how governmental authorities could best try to dismantle the drug cartels and prevent tragedies like Kiki’s murder.  Donnie’s answer highlights the role asset forfeiture has in combating the drug cartels:

Besides subjecting drug kingpins and other cartel members to the death penalty or other stiff sentences, asset forfeiture can help dismantle the drug cartels. The cartels launder their illicit drug proceeds by employing: foreign bank accounts; money mules who smuggle bulk cash; shell companies; diamonds or other valuable commodities; lawyers; bankers; and other middleman willing to assist them. The cartels also wash criminal proceeds by commingling them with legitimate funds from existing businesses.  They can hide their illicit proceeds by purchasing valuable property ranging from real estate to expensive automobiles.

When tens of millions of dollars are smuggled across international borders, this smuggling is usually on behalf of a drug cartel or other organized crime. Through wire taps, informants, surveillance, search warrants, etc., a drug cartel’s illicit funds or other illicit proceeds may be detected.  These proceeds can then be seized and forfeited under U.S. or other laws.  Infighting typically occurs at a drug cartel after law enforcement seizes a large amount of drugs or other cartel property. One hopes that enough cartel property can repeatedly be interdicted to the point that this infighting increases and the cartel ceases its normal operations.

Copyright 2013-2018 Fred L. Abrams

Common methods for concealing assets and Minneapolis money manager Christopher Pettengill-

  • The January 4, 2011 “Asset Search News Roundup” advised that assets are routinely hidden by utilizing portable valuable commodities like diamonds, bulk cash smuggling and checks & wire transfers.  Another common method for concealing assets is trade-based money laundering.  As p.19 of “Money Laundering Vulnerabilities of Free Trade Zones” stated, trade-based laundering “include[s] under and over-invoicing, phantom shipments and other falsification of the value or quantity of a shipment…”  One trade-based laundering scheme, is analyzed at the following hyperlink.
  • The Court’s June 21, 2011 docket entries demonstrated that Minneapolis money manager Christopher Pettengill pleaded guilty to the securities fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering charges described by his felony information.  According to a June 13th Star Tribune article, these charges were connected to Trevor Cook’s $194 million Ponzi scheme.  The post “Money Laundering By Minneapolis Money Managers?” earlier explained that Mr. Pettengill and Mr. Cook were initially named in a civil lawsuit asserting claims against them for fraud, conversion civil theft, etc.  As that post suggested, Mr. Pettengill could have facilitated part of his frauds by displaying to victims what might be a meaningless chart:

 

Copyright 2011 Fred L. Abrams

“Secreting Assets Without A Border Trace” shows the role portable valuable commodities like diamonds can have in a scheme to hide assets.  This January 4th “Asset Search News Roundup” reviews two more ways assets can be hidden.

Bulk Cash Smuggling

A December 16th press release refers to one case now being prosecuted which allegedly involved bulk cash smuggling and other crimes.  In these situations, currency or monetary instruments are physically transported / concealed in what is often a money laundering scheme.  An earlier “Asset Search Blog” article that discusses bulk cash smuggling in detail is “A Doctor, A Lawyer & Bricks Of Cash In Switzerland“.

Checks & Wire Transfers

Assets are also routinely hidden through the misuse of checks and / or wire transfers.  The article “A Tax Fraud & Identity Theft From Miami” for example, mentions a drug trafficker named Mr. Wallace.  Mr. Wallace had concealed $6.3 million dollars by wire transferring it from Panama to his Cayman Island bank account.

Nearly all of this $6.3 million was next stolen by Chuck who had forged letters to gain access to Mr. Wallace’s Cayman Island bank account.  Chuck specifically did this by impersonating Mr. Wallace in two letters he sent to the Cayman Island bank.  One of these letters redacted below, partly reveals that Chuck drained Mr. Wallace’s bank account by directing a wire transfer to Mexico:


(To Read The Letter Click On It)

Copyright 2011 Fred L. Abrams

An April 20, 2010 statement from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona memorializes the U.S. Department of Justice strategy for fighting the scourge of Mexico’s drug cartels.  The April 20th statement indicates that the Department of Justice concentrates on: gathering intelligence about the cartels; targeting cartel leaders for extradition and seizing illicit assets; investigating the cartels’ U.S. crimes like gun and bulk cash smuggling; battling the cartels’ violent crimes and narco-trafficking in the U.S.; and prosecuting cartel members in federal court.

This statement additionally mentioned the Mérida Initiative, (referred to herein as "the Initiative"), which is funding equipment and training for Mexico to fight the cartels.  Some of the Initiative’s expenditures are listed at the excerpt below from Table 3, p. 25 of the "Merida Initiative: The United States Has Provided Counternarcotics and Anticrime Support but Needs Better Performance Measures":

(To Enlarge Click On The Excerpt)

 

Continue Reading Fighting Mexico’s Drug Cartels By Funding A Financial Intelligence Unit

Wachovia, one of the world’s largest international banks, is still defending itself against the Florida civil complaint described at my post "Lawsuit Claims Wachovia Bank Facilitated Alleged Ponzi Scheme".  The complaint essentially claims that Wachovia’s anti-money laundering program under the Bank Secrecy Act had failed to detect money laundering.  It was brought by the apparent victims of a Ponzi-like securities fraud.

Although the complaint could conceivably be the subject of a trial, the Court might soon dismiss at least part of it.  This might happen since there is no private right of action under the Bank Secrecy Act for alleged anti-money laundering program violations.  Only governmental authorities can seek monetary damages for Bank Secrecy Act violations, as suggested by pages 77-78 of the August 26, 2009 opinion in Armstrong v. American Pallet Leasing, Inc.: 

 

(CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE TO READ THE OPINION) 

Continue Reading Wachovia Bank & Its Bank Secrecy Act Issues

The October 11th Asset Search News Roundup describes what could have been the use of cross-border elements to launder the proceeds of a securities fraud. The interdiction of $41 million from bulk cash smuggling in Mexico and Colombia, is also discussed.

In that case, (known as Philips v. Cook, 09-cv-01732), proceeds from an alleged securities fraud might have been laundered across international borders and transferred into Switzerland, Panama, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom. "Investors fear money went south — to Panama", mentioned these particular cross-border elements in connection with the Phillips case.

  • Bulk cash and other smuggling continues even though cargo containers can be screened by X-ray and gamma ray machines and radiation detection devices at ports like the one in Cartagena, depicted below. This past September, $41 million in U.S. currency was interdicted from bulk cash smugglers who had used cargo containers.

A press release states that the $41 million was hidden in the cargo containers at Colombian and Mexican ports. Other articles herein about smuggling cash include: "Concealing Assets By Smuggling Cash", "Smuggling Cash Across Iraq’s Border" and "A Yola, A Police Sergeant & A Restauranteur".

The Port of Cartagena, Colombia

Picture: U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Copyright 2009 Fred L. Abrams

After an at-sea interdiction, U.S. prosecutors are seeking asset forfeiture of a 26- foot yola (boat) and the nearly $1.7 million on board alleged to be undeclared currency hidden in two suitcases and a small bag.  The captain of the yola was Sergeant Juan Quinones-Rosario of the Police of Puerto Rico and its crew member was an Aguada, Puerto Rico restauranteur, Raul Bosques-Caro. 

The sergeant and restauranteur were reportedly on one of two yolas traveling on July 20, 2009, towards the Dominican Republic from Aguada, Puerto Rico.  The yolas had been spotted in international waters by patrol aircraft and were ultimately searched by federal agents.  Given the discovery of the alleged undeclared cash on the yola, the sergeant and restauranteur are both facing prosecution in U.S.A. v. Bosques-Caro, et. al. 3:09-cr-00246. 

Their three-count indictment in Bosques-Caro, alleges violations of 31 U.S.C. §§5316(a) (1) (A) (Reports on exporting and importing monetary instruments); 5332 (a) & (b) (Bulk cash smuggling into or out of the United States); and 18 U.S.C. §2 (Principals).  Asset forfeiture of $1,694,139.00 and the yola, is now being sought under 31 U.S.C. §§5317 (c) (1) (Search and forfeiture of monetary instruments) and 5332 (b) (2).  Along with a criminal complaint, a Special Agent’s supporting affidavit had also been initially filed in the case.

Copyright 2009 Fred L. Abrams