Structuring: Stupidest Law Ever?

[ToxicShocker]

Also lol at both videos showing poor hardworking white folk being screwed by the government. They are being hit with civil forfeiture which has been screwing "urban" people for decades now.

Bizarre that we only roll out the film crews when it happens to white people.

Caveat: civil forfeiture only applies when you have little justification and documentation for all that money. These people's bookkeeping must not be up to par.
Also I don't care about the cops seizing a drug dealers mercedes. But I'm sure alot of good "urban" people have gotten caught up in the mix too.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

This is why my dream of finding a bag of money doesn’t work. I often dream of stumbling upon a duffel bag with like $2 million in cash, but if I did I wouldn’t be able to deposit it and do anything useful with it. The best I could do would be to use that cash to pay for all my daily transactions like groceries, gas, eating at restaurants etc. Maybe buy a used car or something locally. But buying a house with it? Unfortunately, nope.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

Do you need to provide proof of the money being gambling winnings?

 

[plataoplombo]

That's bs, they shouldn't be allowed to ask you that. It's none of their business.

Shit, there have been a few back to back months where I was withdrawing 3k and they were asking me all sorts of questions and having to get managers approvals. I asked them what the big deal was, and they said it was for my protection, they were concerned about me getting scammed or ripped off which seemed fair.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

Do you need to provide proof of the money being gambling winnings?

Nope. Just tell the bank teller you won big and got it paid out in cash.

 

[ToxicShocker]

Do you need to provide proof of the money being gambling winnings?

If you make over $600 i think the casino is supposed to document it for the IRS, and give you a receipt. The money can then be deposited anywhere if you have a receipt because its clean.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

My first job out of college was as a bank teller. The only people getting screwed by this law are the ones who would come in with something like $12,000. Then you tell them for cash deposits over $10,000 we have to fill out a form. They would get all up in arms and say we are infringing on their rights. Then they would say never mind I was to deposit $9,900. When this happens we had to flag it and fill out a report. Then any time this person came in and deposited an amount close to $10,000 we would have to add it to the report. So if you are depositing $10,000 or more just answer the fucking questions and you won't have any trouble.

 

[osudude]

Do you need to provide proof of the money being gambling winnings?

Casinos have a comparable reporting requirement if someone walks out with large amounts of cash. So you should've already been reported.

They're notoriously bad about it though.

 

[Organic Damage]

This is why my dream of finding a bag of money doesn’t work. I often dream of stumbling upon a duffel bag with like $2 million in cash, but if I did I wouldn’t be able to deposit it and do anything useful with it. The best I could do would be to use that cash to pay for all my daily transactions like groceries, gas, eating at restaurants etc. Maybe buy a used car or something locally. But buying a house with it? Unfortunately, nope.

Couldn't you just go to a casino and buy a bunch of chips, blow a few hundred (thousand) and then cash out?

Or is that Money Laundering for Dummies level strategy?

 

[bufetadanacara]

Can someone explain whether the rule applies to people making deposit into their personal account or business account?

For me, it has always been personal account. Nobody cares or ever pays attention if it is under $10,000.
It has been like that for years.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

If you don't know what structuring is, it's when you repeatedly deposit a little less than $10,000 into your bank account. I guess due to fear of the money being potentially obtained through illegal activities, if you deposit more than $10,000, the bank has to notify the federal government. I wasn't aware of this until not too long ago. So basically, if I try to deposit $10,000, I can be charged with a felony? How is this fair to small businesses? Should these laws even exist? This baker apparently had over $68,000 seized from his account by the IRS. Crazy shit:

TS you leave a very important part of the law out of your OP. This only applies to CASH.

 

[ralphc1]

UOTE="Samgyeopsal, post: 143209555, member: 424955"]If you don't know what structuring is, it's when you repeatedly deposit a little less than $10,000 into your bank account. I guess due to fear of the money being potentially obtained through illegal activities, if you deposit more than $10,000, the bank has to notify the federal government. I wasn't aware of this until not too long ago. So basically, if I try to deposit $10,000, I can be charged with a felony? How is this fair to small businesses? Should these laws even exist? This baker apparently had over $68,000 seized from his account by the IRS. Crazy shit:
[/QUOTE]

There is no problem depositing money if you can show where you got it. I was on a Federal Grand Jury in the 1980s and we had a case involving this. A man was selling a house on a land contract and the buyer was paying him $9000/month in cash. The seller didn't deposit the cash one month and deposited $18,000 the next month. He had to report where he got the money. In checking on the buyer, the investigators found the buyer had a record of selling drugs and was making less than $2,000/month.

Another was a guy who had a business and paid $9,000 down on a boat and another $9,000 the next month. They got him for tax evasion as he wasn't claiming the cash he took in at his business.

Most people don't deal in large amounts of cash. Usually, checks or wire transfers are used for large amounts. Sometimes cash is used in on the spot purchases to influence the seller and show that the buyer is serious. Those people can usually account for how they got the money.

 

[ralphc1]

Couldn't you just go to a casino and buy a bunch of chips, blow a few hundred (thousand) and then cash out?

Or is that Money Laundering for Dummies level strategy?

Buying chips with cash would trigger the same rules.

 

[Alphaboy]

If we're talking about stupid laws, I remember reading something about some american state where it's forbidden to stick an icecream cone into your back Pocket.

I should probably try to find out that backstory

Those types of laws aren't really enforced.

 

[Alphaboy]

It's one of those laws to fuck the everyday man. I think there are a lot of dumb laws like someone getting a resisting arrest charge and no other charge.

 

[MoparOrNoCar]

No, the dumbest law ever is the one that gives home invaders legal rights once they break into your house. The law basically wants you to give them as many chances as a 90's action flick bad guy gets to kill you before you're allowed to use force on them.

 

[osudude]

It's one of those laws to fuck the everyday man. I think there are a lot of dumb laws like someone getting a resisting arrest charge and no other charge.

The laws are designed to not only catch money launderers, but also terrorist financing and human trafficking. They've been effective in doing that.

Yes, every now and then someone gets caught in the crossfire. In the case of the bakers, here, that may have been the case. That doesn't mean that the bakers weren't engaging in some illicit activity, but just that the government couldn't prove it. Ultimately they got their money back and the charges were dropped.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

It's one of those laws to fuck the everyday man. I think there are a lot of dumb laws like someone getting a resisting arrest charge and no other charge.

The every day man deposites $10,000 in cash?

 

[Headkicktoleg]

The laws are designed to not only catch money launderers, but also terrorist financing and human trafficking. They've been effective in doing that.

Yes, every now and then someone gets caught in the crossfire. In the case of the bakers, here, that may have been the case. That doesn't mean that the bakers weren't engaging in some illicit activity, but just that the government couldn't prove it. Ultimately they got their money back and the charges were dropped.

Honestly the only way a normal person would get screwed by this is if they refused to answer the questions from the bank teller.

 

[osudude]

Honestly the only way a normal person would get screwed by this is if they refused to answer the questions from the bank teller.

Well, there's a lot more that goes on in the back office after the teller has asked those questions.

If you start engaging in activity that is very different from your regular activity, or activity that wouldn't be expected given your occupation/business, especially if it involves cash, then someone will (or should) start filing suspicious activity reports. Some monetary instruments have more scrutiny in to how they're used such as cashier's checks, gift/stored value cards, and wire transfers.