News
From Sale to Teller, Smuggled Cash Can Take Circuitous Route, Says ICE Official
printWhen imagining how dirty money is moved around the country, "think of FedEx," says Joseph Burke, chief of the National Bulk Cash Smuggling Center in Vermont. Established five years ago as part of the ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) directorate, the center is tasked with tracing the sometimes elaborate path of drug proceeds from point-of-sale to the bank teller's window. Such routes can involve the seemingly counterintuitive steps of transporting cash back into the United States, he said. In a recent interview with reporter Kira Zalan, Burke spoke about the potential impact of Mexico's 2010 decision to restrict U.S. dollar...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Subscribe
Learn More
Related News
Bulk-cash seizures in the United States appear to be declining as criminal organizations change methods and locations for consolidating and disguising their illicit profits, according to Joseph Burke, chief of the National Bulk Cash Smuggling Center in Williston, Vermont.
Trade-based schemes and bulk cash smuggling are among the most common tactics used by international money launderers, according to Joseph Gallion, the deputy assistant director of the Financial, Narcotics and Special Operations Division for the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
The Federal Reserve cited Germany's second-largest bank Thursday for broad deficiencies in its anti-money laundering program, including insufficient risk-ranking, suspicious activity reporting and bulk cash controls.
Exemptions for Mexican hotels and other businesses from Mexico's limits on U.S. dollar deposits can be readily exploited by narco-traffickers and money launderers, say compliance professionals.
A broad anti-money laundering measure that would create and strengthen criminal penalties and impose reporting requirements on non-bank institutions in Mexico is likely to pass into law this month, say former government officials.
It seems incongruous: even as Mexico's problems with drug trafficking, money laundering and violence have worsened in unprecedented ways, the Latin American economy's ability to attract foreign investors has grown.
The Mexican Finance Ministry Tuesday unveiled strict new limits on cash deposits of U.S. dollars in efforts to curb the flow of illicit cash into the financial system from drug traffickers.
U.S. regulators Thursday released the latest Bank Secrecy Act examination manual for financial institutions, clarifying regulatory requirements on bulk currency shipments, suspicious activity reporting and compliance department structures.
Concerns about drug cartel money smuggling could shape expected U.S. Treasury Department compliance rules on how companies should treat stored value cards, according to investigators.
Arizona investigators are free to seize Western Union money transfers believed to be tied to human smuggling operations, even when the transfers originated from other states, a state court said.
The Bush Administration is seeking a 7 percent budget increase next year for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that includes about $4 million for units that investigate bulk cash smuggling and trade finance-related money laundering.