Authorities
Seize Luxury Cars Worth Millions
A
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force seized numerous
luxury vehicles worth several million dollars from a used car dealership,
and charged two men with selling the cars to suspected drug dealers
and failing to report the proceeds. The auto dealership’s owner
was arrested, charged with money laundering. Also arrested was a
relative, who was charged with allegedly trying to avoid reporting
the funds to the Internal Revenue Service.
The
Drug Enforcement Administration is a component of the HIDTA task
force, and assisted in this investigation by conducting a review
using FinCEN’s Gateway Program of the Currency and Banking Retrieval
System database for Bank Secrecy Act reports relating to the dealership
and the two subjects. Located reports included 15 Currency Transaction
Reports and one Suspicious Activity Report. The investigation revealed
an informant told federal agents that the used car dealership’s
owners would take cash payments from drug dealers for vehicle purchases.
They would then structure the payments to avoid the Bank Secrecy
Act reporting requirements. Agents went to the car lot, told the
owners they were heroin dealers, and wanted to launder their drug
proceeds through the purchase of luxury cars. The two men agreed
to structure the payments and not file IRS Form 8300, Reports of
Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business, for
each of the sales.
During
a search of Bank Secrecy Act records, no Forms 8300 were located
for this used car dealership, which supported the informant’s statement,
and substantiated the owners did not complete the required reporting.
A further review of Currency Transaction Reports linked cash deposits
into three separate bank accounts for the dealership owners. The
Suspicious Activity Report was useful, as it provided the dates
and amounts of structured deposits into accounts at a major depository
institution.
The
HIDTA task force included members of federal, state and local law
enforcement agencies.
Source: www.fincen.gov
|
