Limbaugh bank withdrawals under fire

New York Daily News ^ | 11/19/03 | DEREK ROSE

[kattracks]

Authorities are investigating whether radio host Rush Limbaugh skirted banking laws in getting cash to buy his illegal prescription painkillers, it was reported last night. Limbaugh made between 30 and 40 cash withdrawals from his account at U.S. Trust in amounts just under $10,000, ABC News quoted law enforcement officials as saying.

At one point, a U.S. Trust employee delivered about $9,900 in cash to Limbaugh at his New York studio, ABC reported. Banks must report withdrawals of $10,000 or more to the federal government.

Law enforcement officials will decide this week whether to prosecute Limbaugh on the felony money-laundering charges, ABC News also revealed.

"There's no basis for these charges. He has not committed any acts of money laundering and he absolutely denies it," Limbaugh's lawyer, Roy Black, told ABC. "I can assure you - and Rush assures the listeners to his radio station - when we can, we will tell the story, and he will tell it himself. Everybody will see what has really gone on here."

Black could not be reached for further comment last night.

ABC's report also said that officials in New York, in addition to Limbaugh's home state of Florida, are handling the probe.

Representatives for New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the New York State Banking Office said they were not aware of any investigation.

Limbaugh returned to the WABC radio airwaves Monday after checking himself into a painkiller detox program five weeks ago.

Originally published on November 19, 2003

[Dianna]

Let's just out ever darn drug abuser in the media, why don't we.

Well, lets just look at the bank withdrawls of all the celebs who have admitted that they use drugs by going to rehab. If they were smart, then they tried to fly under the IRS radar too. Sounds like selective prosecution to me.

[livesbygrace]

There's another article in the NYPost online, and the 'strategery' is more apparent.

November 19, 2003 -- Conservative radio-show host Rush Limbaugh may be in more big, fat trouble for possibly violating state money-laundering laws while trying to hide the fact he was buying scores of painkillers to feed his addiction. Authorities said that during a probe of New York's U.S. Trust Bank two years ago, they discovered that Limbaugh had made between 30 and 40 cash withdrawals from his account that each totaled just under $10,000, ABC News reported last night. Any time someone makes a single withdrawal of $10,000 or more from a bank, the financial institution is required to report the activity to the government. "That in itself is a suspicious activity," money-laundering expert Jack Blum told ABC News of withdrawals such as Limbaugh's. Those who make them "are structuring their transaction to avoid reporting to the government, and the bank is required to file with the federal government something called a suspicious-activity report," he said. "Now the problem will be: Did [Limbaugh] . . . assist his drug supplier in hiding the proceeds [drug money] from the government?"

It seems that they are just dying to make something, anything stick to Rush, and this is all a bunch of hooey...

[livesbygrace]

I will re-iterate...

"Now the problem will be: Did [Limbaugh] . . . assist his drug supplier in hiding the proceeds [drug money] from the government?"

[Labyrinthos]

People taking 10,000 out of the bank!

$10,000 of his OWN money.

Why, if everyone took $10,000 out of the bank, it would drive the Feds nuts!

It would also put the banks out of business because most banks don't keep enough cash on hand to cover deposits.

[trebb]

We can't have this! People taking 10,000 out of the bank! Why, if everyone took $10,000 out of the bank, it would drive the Feds nuts!

Better yet, take out $10,000, turn around and redeposit it, take it back out, deposit it . . . .

[onyx]

This has been developing for the past twenty years or so.

Exactly. Banks prefer credit card transactions and cheques, both of which generate income for them.

I do however, maintain that I would find a bank that handed me my cash in one transaction. I'd go to the branch manager and tell him my reasons along with my expectations (demands).

[AppyPappy]

How is this money laundering?

Don't ask questions. You'll just get confused. Just believe.

[WhiteGuy]

"If you take out lower amounts (<$10,000) in multiple transactions, for the express purpose of not having the transaction get reported, that is called "structuring" and is a "problem"."

Does anyone else see a problem here?

It is NO ONE's business what I do with MY MONEY.

[onyx]

I don't believe, that, Lim. could not find a doctor who would presribe what Lim. wanted.

Really? Considering that Rush's daily habit exceeded 20 tabs per day, please tell me why a doctor would risk his license to practice medicine in order to write a RED FLAG script?

[onyx]

EXCELLENT post. Thank you. We're on the same page.

Maybe he bought drugs with his OWN cash. Maybe he gambled and played slots next to his friend Bill Bennett. Heck, maybe he bought gold coins!

[johnb838]

"Now the problem will be: Did [Limbaugh] . . . assist his drug supplier in hiding the proceeds [drug money] from the government?"

Seems to me that they are skipping a very important intermediate problem. Can they show that the withdrawals had anything to do with drugs at all? That assumption is made in each of these articles, but why would a guy making $35 mill per year do that? There is no reason to buy $9,999 in pills at a time, the only reason to do that is if you were dealing. Why would he do that if he wanted to fly under the radar? It just doesn't make sense. And who are these "authorities" that are talking about these legitimate banking transactions? How often did these withdrawals take place?

I smell gaming here, but hopefully Roy Black will do his job.

[AndyJackson]

pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted

The younger generation 20-something and under responds to this BS with "whatever." A lot of people here trash that generation when they here this, but I think that it is almost a Ghandiesque response to what our generation has done. The liberals get it and know what they did - some of them. But the conservative - the law is the law - crowd just play, stupidly into their hands.

[TheDeacon]

It looks like Rush was being blackmailed.

[gulfcoast6]

They won't give up will they.

[greasepaint]

Perhaps you can fill in some details.
20 tabs...of what?
Of what dose?
How do you know this?

[RWG]

Roy Black-was he the slime that got the kennedy kid to slide on the rape charge?

[tiki]

This is just sensationalism. I'm pretty sure that the law is that you can't DEPOSIT more than 10,000 without the bank reporting it to the Feds. If it was once in the bank, it was already accounted for and traceable for tax purposes. Laundering is whan you try to make ill-gotten money appear to be legitimate.

[tray-sea]

Wow, that was a powerful statement. I've not read any Ayn works as I thought it was all pro communism. This statement gave me goosebumps bc it's what has clearly happened in our country. we are in a crisis.

[WildWeasel]

I thought it was the bank's responsibility to report large withdrawals, not the account holder. Besides, if Limbaugh withdrew money below the limit required for reporting, where's the crime?

[wai-ming]

This is ridiculous.

If a person wants to deposit or withdraw money from his own account, why does the government have to be involved? It's none of their business.