47°
Jae Hee Yang, 58, owner of Tip Top Nails in Old Greenwich made 15 cash withdrawals in increments ranging from $4,000 to $8,000 and totaling $100,000, from a bank in New Jersey where she maintained a business checking account. The currency was generated from the operation of Tip Top Nails.
At the time, Yang knew that the bank was required to issue a report for a currency transaction in excess of $10,000, and that by conducting her financial transactions in amounts less than $10,001, she intended to evade the transaction reporting requirements.
Federal law requires all financial institutions to file a Currency Transaction Report (CTR) for currency transactions that exceed $10,000. To evade the filing of a CTR, individuals will often structure their currency transactions so that no single transaction exceeds $10,000.
Structuring involves the repeated depositing or withdrawal of amounts of cash less than the $10,000 limit, or the splitting of a cash transaction that exceeds $10,000 into smaller cash transactions in an effort to avoid the reporting requirements.
Even if the deposited funds are derived from a legitimate means, financial transactions conducted in this manner are still in violation of federal criminal law.
In addition, Tip Top Nails employed individuals who were unauthorized aliens not permitted to work in the U.S., paid the aliens in cash rather than by check as it did with legal employees, and transported the aliens between New York and Greenwich daily.
On Aug. 28, 2012, Yang pleaded guilty to one count of structuring currency transactions to evade reporting requirements and one count of employing an unauthorized alien.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Greenwich and receive free news updates.
