I was talking to a banker the other week and we got on to the subject of money laundering. Yes, most of my discussions with bankers lead to the discussion of crimes and felonies. What can I say; I am curious on how the real world works and the mysteries I read are not “True Crime” stories.
So this bank has a business client that comes in each and every week with $20,000 in $100 bills. Now in certain circumstances this would not be unusual. But in this case it is from the gas station owner; again in certain circumstances this would not be unusual.
But this gas station has a large sign in their window stating that they take nothing larger than a $20. Of which the banker is aware and had inquired about, but received no real answer. SO the banker believes the $20,000 in laundering activity.
So they make the deposit. The bank then fills out the suspicious activity report and sends it into the regulators and nothing happens.
This has been going on for quite a while, the banker has been informed that the feds are years behind in their investigations.
I believe that the government is aware of this and they are watching it, but they are not doing anything on this because, now that the deposit has been made, they have to pay taxes on this income.
Is it possible that the federal government is allowing money laundering happen for the tax revenue? My guess is yes, because they need the funds.
Am I correct? I cannot say, but it does make sense at least to me.