Good
Great!
Posted on 04/27/2005 7:59:32 AM PDT by PreciousLiberty
In 2006, it'll be a whole lot harder to cheat on your taxes, even accidentally. In fact, you'll also have to field calls from the government over odd deposits that you make, e.g. a deposit at an odd time of the month, or a cash deposit, or a deposit made from a foreign bank, etc. That's because, thanks to the PATRIOT act, banks are spending billions on highly sophisticated, government-mandated anti-money laundering (AML) software that will track every last transaction of every last customer in order to build up individual customer profiles and look for "suspicious" activity. And when they find some suspicious activity, they're going to want an explanation out of you, regardless of whether or not you fit any sort of terrorist profile.
(Excerpt) Read more at arstechnica.com ...
I've had an account in the Republic of the Marshall Islands since 1988 and every now and again the IRS sends me a demand letter demanding that I disclose my interest income and balance. And I tell them to get bent. The interest is not realized as income unless the money comes to the USA or if I go to the islands.
There was a deal sometime ago where Visa cards were used as debit cards and that was illegal. I've always stayed within the law.
But the IRS has no damn business knowing what money I have offshore. Or in my pocket.
Laws in every state require your doctor to spy on you. The State government forces them to keep records of your children's personal medical problems that may be useful in criminal proceedings against you. The doctors are kept in line by harsh penalties, including possible loss of their license or jail time.This is done secretly (the doctor does not have to notify you that he is reporting your child's medical condition), without the consent or knowledge of parents, any time a doctor decides that a child's condition is "suspicious." The reports are made available electronically to authorities with the power to arrest you, remove your children from your home and prevent you from working. A law enforcement agency does not have to be suspicious of an actual crime before it accesses a report, and no court order, warrant, subpoena, or even written request is needed. Law enforcement agencies can, and allegedly do, download the entire harvest of new information from a buffer containing these secret reports, any time they want.
And even worse: In some states, false reporters using the system cannot be prosecuted, and in some states even Boy Scout and Girl Scout leaders are spying on you and reporting to this electronic system. In most states, anyperson can make one of these electronic reports against you, and there is even a national reporting system.
Now, the system I've just described is the mandatory reporting system for child abuse. Medical personnel are mandatory reporters in every state in the Union. In Illinois, they call a hotline, and an investigation by the authorities is mandatory. I didn't even work hard spinning it, and I made the system sound like the draconian government threatening doctors with jail time to make them spy on poor, innocent families. In Illinois Boy/Girl Scout leaders are mandatory reporters. People who call the hotline and give a false report are not prosecuted (a friend of the family was "turned in" for abusing her sons after a customer disliked her handling of a real estate transaction, and the false reporter will face no consequences) and if you have had an investigation go anywhere beyond the first contact from child welfare, you cannot be medically licensed or work with children until six months after the investigation is closed.
The problem is, being paranoid would be silly, because the doctor isn't spying, false reports are rare, non-abusive parents are seldom investigated and almost never hassled, and it's worth it to catch the child abusers.
So...it's easy to spin stuff that's meant to hunt down bad guys. I could tell people the government has the right under the Patriot Act to look in their bedroom closets...and forget to mention they have to be suspected terror suspects with a proper federal warrant. The Privacilla folks are either spinning or spun so bad they can't see straight.
Good Great!
The $10K item was "Drug Money" legislation.
If you think it's a crock, fine.
Now imagine HRC in the White House.
Still not worried?
Can add nothing except, "AMEN!"
Excellent analysis. I especially object to the headline, which is so divorced from the content that it's like headlining an increase in federal funding for cops as "Uncle Sam wants you---to get a plunger handle up the anus at the precinct house."
I should have stated my point more clearly. It's already pretty easy to avoid paying state sales tax, I'm guessing it'll be even easier to avoid paying federal sales tax.
Please, don't misunderstand me. I think a consumption tax is better and more American than an income tax. I just don't think it is a perfect solution.
Hmmm, I don't charge my church for the graphics work I do.
They want to dissolve those borders, not secure them.
Since the citzenry is against that, there will have to be more controls placed upon those citizens to prevent them from acting up.
Great engine in that shadow, though. Put one in my Dodge Caravan and it ran better than the factory original.
SEC-SRO "Sweep"
Last year at this conference, I announced that staff from the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) already had begun to undertake a number of examinations of broker-dealers to learn about their existing money laundering compliance programs.3 Together with the New York Stock Exchange, Inc. (NYSE) and the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD), SEC staff collaborated on a joint examination module and conducted a joint training program for SEC and SRO examiners. Following the training program, SEC and SRO examiners conducted examinations of 26 broker-dealers. The sweep included a wide spectrum of firms -- large and small, introducing and clearing, as well as some on-line firms.
We are grateful for the cooperation of the firms we visited, and their assistance in increasing our knowledge and understanding of anti-money laundering techniques.
Our preliminary assessment is no surprise. We found that, even before enactment of the Patriot Act, some of the largest firms already had in place sophisticated anti-money laundering compliance programs. While our experience at mid-sized and smaller firms was much more uneven, in general we found that most firms we visited had an awareness of the issues and problems posed by money laundering, and had begun to engage in discussions regarding how to augment or improve their compliance programs.
We also came away from our exams with some more practical ideas of what works for some of these firms, as well as some notions of practices that are not as effective. As you know from my speech last year, we understand that anti-money laundering compliance is not a "one-size-fits-all" proposition. The Patriot Act itself, as well as the SRO rules on anti-money laundering procedures, give firms some flexibility to design programs that fit their businesses, and the potential money laundering risks posed by their business model. It is my hope that sharing our insights and experience with what works and what doesn't, will help you move from thinking about the goal of your anti-money laundering program, to making it a reality in practice. I also hope that by focusing on the practical today, I can speed you towards meeting the Act's timeframes for compliance.
Anti-Money Laundering - What Works?
In our "sweep," we generally focused on the following areas:
* Suspicious activity detection and reporting;
* Due diligence with respect to account opening;
* Supervision;
* Training;
* Bank Secrecy Act compliance; and
* Clearing firms' role.
Let me give you some of our findings in each of these areas.
1. Suspicious Activity Detection and Reporting
In the area of suspicious activity detection and reporting, we found the following:
Comprehensive Monitoring Systems. We found that comprehensive, and in many instances automated, systems used to monitor suspicious activity indicative of money laundering seemed to be the most effective means to detect such activity. The most successful reviewed individual customer activity and generated exception reports based on unique or aberrant activity. Effective monitoring systems generally take into account many different factors in determining whether an activity is suspicious. Some of these factors include the following:
* frequency of trading in the account;
* money in/money out;
* dollar amount of the trade;
* use of cash equivalents;
* wire transfer activity:
* the country that funds were wired to or received from; and
* new account information obtained at the account opening.
Less effective monitoring systems were seen at firms that either did not have suspicious activity detection systems in place or presented their existing anti-fraud systems as anti-money laundering systems. While existing anti-fraud systems may be important as a base for detecting fraudulent activity, they cannot be relied upon to do "double duty" for anti-money laundering purposes without review and adjustment. Surveillance reports that are geared toward detecting fraud - such as forgery and check kiting - and do not also provide meaningful review of structured transactions or other types of suspicious activity simply can't do the job.
Screening Wire Transfers. We found that reviewing individual wire transfers -- in and of themselves -- in many cases did not constitute a meaningful exercise. Firms with more successful programs had well-trained firm personnel that were educated on what to look for when screening money movements, such as: rapid journaling of assets between related accounts, transaction patterns where no securities investments were made before funds were wired out of the account, and several ostensibly unrelated entities sharing addresses. One firm utilized a computer system that detected patterns in wire activity and flagged accounts with multiple transfers to an unrelated account and large wires in and out with little or no corresponding securities purchases or sales. In addition, the more successful firms had the capability to conduct a historical review of account activity before processing a wire transfer.
Watch Lists. Firms with successful programs were able to keep identified lists of clients who had previously exhibited suspicious behavior. This enabled those firms to concentrate resources on monitoring those accounts for further evidence of suspicious activity.
Use of Margin Departments. A practice by broker-dealers that seemed to work was using their margin departments in some capacity in their anti-money laundering efforts, whether as the primary anti-money laundering function at the firm or as a supplement to their dedicated anti-money laundering compliance group. Some firms used their margin departments to screen wire transfers for suspicious activity. Names on incoming and outgoing wires were automatically checked against the OFAC list4 and addresses were checked against the FATF list of nations with weak money laundering controls.5
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). Firms with effective programs were actively filing SARs with FinCEN6. Even though some of these firms were not required to file SARs by law, the filing of SARs evidenced a commitment to detecting and reporting suspicious activity. Likewise, firms with effective programs had a set procedure in place for following-up once a suspicious activity was detected. These firms had clear lines of authority and clear policies as to when a SAR needed to be filed. Some firms even had a committee that met to discuss whether to file a SAR.
a random $50 deposit wouldn't red flag. The author of the piece is either spinning or has been spun so bad he can't see straight.
Actually, your example uses survival as the item with a cost. The cost is freedom itself, in your example.
smoking nuclear hole = saved freedom, lost survival
avoid nuclear hole - give up freedom, survive
Yes, and once I'm sitting in the bottom of a smoking nuclear hole, I'll be so glad that my finances were kept "confidential" from "evil government forces"."
Elaborate, please, and while you're at it explain why the government IG hasn't found any abuses yet.
How peculiar. Banks usually care if one of the tellers voluntarily trades a bogus instrument for cash.
"and while you're at it explain why the government IG hasn't found any abuses yet."
This is humor, yes?
The Patriot Act simply was a short-term band-aid. The bad-guys have already figured the ways to get around the system. And for the rest of us...it now adds up to a review of our own "sneaky" methods of moving money around the country or into other bank accounts. The mafia has been easily skirting every block the government has put up and they are the 'experts' on moving cash.
"I sold my old lawn spreader on eBay. Anything else you'd like to know?"
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