Hire a Lawyer for Federal Transaction Reporting Crimes

Financial crimes are intricate because of the complex flow of money among individuals, businesses, and financial institutions. There are strict rules that guide financial reports and transactions.

If you have charges relating to financial crime, you need to work with an attorney with excellent knowledge of financial systems, laws, and regulations.

Call the Zoukis Consulting Group now to speak to an expert on filing false reports and learn how we can defend you in court.

Transaction Reporting

Transaction reporting consists of documenting every financial process. From deposit, withdrawal, transfer to and from a financial institution. It is also an essential procedure in every financial institution. 

It has become essential because of the increase in the financial crime rate. Every financial institution must do complete transaction reporting to keep track of financial records and monitor financial crimes.

Transaction reporting helps to monitor crimes like money laundering, tax crimes. It is a severe offense if individuals, businesses, or financial bodies fail to perform correct transaction reporting.

There are rules to follow when reporting transactions. You commit a criminal offense if you fail to follow these rules. Also, to back up an investigation, investigation officials request transaction reports. Failure to provide a standard financial report can lead to punishment such as huge fines or incarceration. 

The Currency Transaction Report (CTR) is one of the standards put in place by the government to reduce and prevent financial crimes. The CTR is a form that every financial institution fills. They fill this form when a single customer carries out a transaction of over $10,000, either withdrawal or deposit.

Transaction Structuring

Transaction structuring is an illegal act of carrying out financial transactions to evade the CTR (Currency Transaction Reporting). Structuring is a way of avoiding unwanted attention to an individual’s financial transaction in the transaction report. 

Financial institutions fill the CTR form for every transaction of over $10,000. As a result, offenders break up a single large transaction into a couple of smaller transactions below $10,000. They do this by depositing the money into multiple bank accounts. Individuals that carry out this act are usually involved in fraud, money laundering, and other financial-related crimes. 

Transaction structuring is a grave criminal offense. Financial institutions have put measures in place to trace and connect transactions. All the different branches of a single financial institution, or multiple ones, have a reporting system. Even if an individual breaks the transaction into bits, once there is a link to a single source, there is a financial structuring case.

Filing False Reports

Filing false reports, commonly known as financial statement fraud or accounting fraud. It is simply a process where individuals do not report the correct financial details in the financial statement. Instead, they include false reports about the income or profit made by the company.

Often financial fraud is intentionally done to gain benefits or make a company look more stable or profitable. Altering figures and business descriptions is a financial crime. 

There are guidelines and rules to follow when preparing a financial statement. 

The Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act or Sarbanes-Oxley Act were established to regulate false report filing. The establishment of the act was in response to the high rate of financial clients in accounting firms and public company boards.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act contains strict rules and regulations that every institution must follow when creating financial statements. Not following these set guidelines is termed as filing false reports or financial fraud. 

The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)

The Bank Secrecy Act is one of the measures the government has put in place to regulate financial crimes. It is also known as the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act. 

It helps to reduce corporate offenses under §2S1.3. which includes:

  • Structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements.
  •  Failure to report cash or monetary transactions.
  • Failure to file currency and monetary instrument reports.
  •  Knowingly filing false reports 
  • Bulk cash smuggling
  • Establishing or maintaining prohibited accounts

A Federal Transaction Reporting Lawyer Will Fight for You

If you have charges of transaction reporting, structuring, bulk cash smuggling, and filing false reports, you may have to face serious punishment. Often companies found guilty pay hefty fines that affect their businesses even to the point of closing down.

Individuals found guilty of those financial crimes face a lengthy jail sentence. The only way to reduce these punishments is by hiring a financial fraud advocate. An expert criminal lawyer can build up a defense in court to clear you of every crime.

Depending on the evidence at hand, the lawyers can negotiate on your behalf to reduce the punishment. You have to first consult with a professional to know the steps to take. At the Zoukis Consulting Group, we work with you to proffer solutions and also defend you.

Call now to set up an initial consultation.