Law Commons^™

Cyberlaundering: The Risks, The Responses, Sarah N. Welling, Andy G. Rickman

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article discusses the potential use of electronic cash for money laundering and possible government responses to the problem. Parts I and II provide an overview of electronic cash. Part III explores the effects that electronic cash can have on money laundering. Part IV explains through a series of hypotheticals how "cyberlaundering" can occur. Part V analyzes the federal government's response to the threat of money laundering with electronic cash. Part VI concludes the Article with suggestions.

Money Laundering: The Anti-Structuring Laws, Sarah N. Welling

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Several money laundering laws do not apply until the amount of money involved exceeds $10,000. The laws include three reporting requirements and one substantive crime. Launderers have responded to these laws in part by "structuring" their transactions--breaking them up so the amound involved in each transaction is less than $10,000. This Article collects and analyzes the laws that make structuring a crime. I have discussed one such law, the cash transaction report (CTR) anti-structuring statute, in a previous article. This Article analyzes the anti-structuring provisions of the three other money laundering laws that use numerical thresholds. It also examines how …

Money Laundering And Lawyers, Eugene R. Gaetke, Sarah N. Welling

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The federal government has recently enacted money laundering laws to track and discourage the use of money generated by crime. Because some of that money is used to pay legal fees, the laws have a direct impact on lawyers. The laws increase the risk of prosecution for lawyers, inhibit some methods of fee payment, and make some cases less attractive financially. Generally, the laws make law practice more complicated and risky.

The laws have been criticized for their impact on criminal defense lawyers. Critics have raised three broad objections. The first objection is constitutional. Critics have also objected to the …

Smurfs, Money Laundering And The Federal Criminal Law: The Crime Of Structuring Transactions, Sarah N. Welling

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In 1970, Congress adopted a statute requiring financial institutions to report cash transactions over $10,000 to the government. Failure to report was a crime. In 1987, Congress made it a crime to structure financial transactions to evade this reporting law. Thus, for example, if Joe arranges his banking so the cash transactions are below $10,000 in order to avoid reporting, Joe commits a federal crime. What brought Congress to this point? Should we be alarmed at the extent of governmental intrusion into the arrangement of our financial affairs, or is the intrusion warranted? This article answers these questions and tells …