昨天的一則新聞《著名導演英達涉嫌洗錢在美國被捕 或入獄10年》中提到了 Structuring 的罪名，跟在美留學生尤其是擼卡人士息息相關，因此藉此機會科普一下什麼是 structuring。在新聞中提到：
根據檢方的指控書，英達現年56歲，居住在康州，2011年4月到2012年3月之間的11個月之內，他先後把46.4萬美元存入他和他妻子的聯名賬戶。為了為了繞過監控，他每次存錢額度都低於1萬元，前後分50次存入。為避人耳目，他和他妻子在四家銀行開了六個銀行賬戶。
可能有人會有這樣的疑問：存錢怎麼就犯罪了呢？要怎麼存才能不犯罪？且聽我細細道來。
美國對於反洗錢的打擊力度是相當大的。因為現金的流動不易追查，美國就制定了一個存大額現金必須填表備案的法律：只要一次性存$10,000以上的現金，銀行就必須讓你填一個 Currency Transaction Report (CTR) 以向IRS報告：
Who Must File. Each financial institution (other than a casino, which instead must file FinCEN Form 103, and the U.S. Postal Service for which there are separate rules) must file FinCEN Form 104 (CTR) for each deposit, withdrawal, exchange of currency, or other payment or transfer, by, through, or to the financial institution which involves a transaction in currency of more than $10,000. Multiple transactions must be treated as a single transaction if the financial institution has knowledge that (1) they are by or on behalf of the same person, and (2) they result in either currency received (Cash In) or currency disbursed (Cash Out) by the financial institution totaling more than $10,000 during any one business day. For a bank, a business day is the day on which transactions are routinely posted to customers』 accounts, as normally communicated to depository customers. For all other financial institutions, a business day is a calendar day.
當然，聰明的犯罪分子肯定可以想到這一點：既然不能一次性存$10,000以上的現金，那就把錢分成幾天存，或者分成幾個不同的銀行存，那不就可以逃避監管了嗎？於是更聰明的法律制定者就又規定了這個罪名，Structuring：若故意分拆存款以避免填寫 Currency Transaction Report (CTR)，即視作 Structuring。具體標準如下：
- Obtain the cooperation of the owners of the financial institution.
- Obtain the cooperation of an employee.
- Conduct transactions at a lower dollar amount to avoid any identification requirements.
- Conduct transactions at multiple agents of a larger financial institution. (An individual may go to multiple money transmitter locations that happen to be agents for the same company.) Note: If the company has a centralized computer system and aggregates transactions of all agent/branch locations and duly reports the currency transaction, this would be called “imperfect” structuring.
- Use multiple third parties as initiators or recipients of transactions to complete the transactions. Note: This practice is called “smurfing,” where transactions, such as money transfers, are conducted repeatedly in small amounts by third parties to avoid the suspicion of the financial institution(s).
- Conduct transactions at a number of different financial institutions. Note: This is called “perfect” structuring because while the total of the transactions exceeds $10,000, the total amount transacted at each financial institution on a single business day is under $10,000. Thus, no financial institution had a duty to file a CTR.
- Conduct numerous small transactions over a number of days.
這裡明確規定了，如果有大於$10,000的現金要存，那麼只要有分多次存、分不同銀行存而又每次都低於$10,000的行為，就有可能被懷疑為 Structuring。這裡補充一句，Money Order (MO) 也被視作現金，若用分拆的方法存 MO 以避免填表，一樣可能被視作是 Structuring。
Structuring 是犯罪行為，輕則罰款重則坐牢，這可不是什麼鬧著玩的事情。咱們華人里有些人會因為某些原因持有大量現金需要存進銀行，或者某些擼卡的人會買 Money Order (MO) 來製造消費，就需要對這個問題非常注意。若經常性的存$8,000或者$9,000這種數目的現金，就是作死行為。
那要如何存大額現金/MO才能避免犯罪呢？其實很簡單，只要你的現金/MO的來源是合法的，就一次性存$10,000以上，然後填寫表格備案即可。當然，有些銀行可能是對洗錢過於敏感，一次性存這麼多現金有一定概率會導致殺全家（Chase 我說的就是你），但是我們也一定不能因為這個就分拆存款。真的要存這麼多現金的話，就要做好被該銀行殺全家的準備，所以最好存到村裡的小破銀行里，以至於被他們殺全家也沒有什麼實質損失，大不了以後換一家小銀行存。
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