All Agencies, Latest Month All Agencies, Previous FY Geographic Distribution
of Convictions for
All Agencies, FY 2023
3 Prosecutions
in December 2023
55 Prosecutions
in Fiscal Year 2023
2 Convictions
in December 2023
64 Convictions
in Fiscal Year 2023

CITE

    31 USC Sec. 5332                                            01/05/2009

EXPCITE

    TITLE 31 - MONEY AND FINANCE
    SUBTITLE IV - MONEY
    CHAPTER 53 - MONETARY TRANSACTIONS
    SUBCHAPTER II - RECORDS AND REPORTS ON MONETARY INSTRUMENTS
                     TRANSACTIONS

HEAD

    Sec. 5332. Bulk cash smuggling into or out of the United States

STATUTE

      (a) Criminal Offense. -
        (1) In general. - Whoever, with the intent to evade a currency
      reporting requirement under section 5316, knowingly conceals more
      than $10,000 in currency or other monetary instruments on the
      person of such individual or in any conveyance, article of
      luggage, merchandise, or other container, and transports or
      transfers or attempts to transport or transfer such currency or
      monetary instruments from a place within the United States to a
      place outside of the United States, or from a place outside the
      United States to a place within the United States, shall be
      guilty of a currency smuggling offense and subject to punishment
      pursuant to subsection (b).
        (2) Concealment on person. - For purposes of this section, the
      concealment of currency on the person of any individual includes
      concealment in any article of clothing worn by the individual or
      in any luggage, backpack, or other container worn or carried by
      such individual.
      (b) Penalty. -
        (1) Term of imprisonment. - A person convicted of a currency
      smuggling offense under subsection (a), or a conspiracy to commit
      such offense, shall be imprisoned for not more than 5 years.
        (2) Forfeiture. - In addition, the court, in imposing sentence
      under paragraph (1), shall order that the defendant forfeit to
      the United States, any property, real or personal, involved in
      the offense, and any property traceable to such property.
        (3) Procedure. - The seizure, restraint, and forfeiture of
      property under this section shall be governed by section 413 of
      the Controlled Substances Act.
        (4) Personal money judgment. - If the property subject to
      forfeiture under paragraph (2) is unavailable, and the defendant
      has insufficient substitute property that may be forfeited
      pursuant to section 413(p) of the Controlled Substances Act, the
      court shall enter a personal money judgment against the defendant
      for the amount that would be subject to forfeiture.
      (c) Civil Forfeiture. -
        (1) In general. - Any property involved in a violation of
      subsection (a), or a conspiracy to commit such violation, and any
      property traceable to such violation or conspiracy, may be seized
      and forfeited to the United States.
        (2) Procedure. - The seizure and forfeiture shall be governed
      by the procedures governing civil forfeitures in money laundering
      cases pursuant to section 981(a)(1)(A) of title 18, United States
      Code.
        (3) Treatment of certain property as involved in the offense. -
      For purposes of this subsection and subsection (b), any currency
      or other monetary instrument that is concealed or intended to be
      concealed in violation of subsection (a) or a conspiracy to
      commit such violation, any article, container, or conveyance
      used, or intended to be used, to conceal or transport the
      currency or other monetary instrument, and any other property
      used, or intended to be used, to facilitate the offense, shall be
      considered property involved in the offense.

SOURCE

    (Added Pub. L. 107-56, title III, Sec. 371(c), Oct. 26, 2001, 115
    Stat. 337; amended Pub. L. 108-458, title VI, Sec. 6203(h), Dec.
    17, 2004, 118 Stat. 3747.)

REFERENCES IN TEXT

      Section 413 of the Controlled Substances Act, referred to in
    subsec. (b)(3), (4), is classified to section 853 of Title 21, Food
    and Drugs.

CODIFICATION

      Another section 371(c) of Pub. L. 107-56 amended the table of
    sections at the beginning of this chapter.

AMENDMENTS

      2004 - Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 108-458, Sec. 6203(h)(1), struck
    out ", subject to subsection (d) of this section" before period at
    end.
      Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 108-458, Sec. 6203(h)(2), struck out ",
    subject to subsection (d) of this section," after "may be seized
    and".
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2004 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 108-458 effective as if included in Pub. L.
    107-56, as of the date of enactment of such Act, and no amendment
    made by Pub. L. 107-56 that is inconsistent with such amendment to
    be deemed to have taken effect, see section 6205 of Pub. L. 108-
    458, set out as a note under section 1828 of Title 12, Banks and
    Banking.
           BULK CASH SMUGGLING INTO OR OUT OF THE UNITED STATES
      Pub. L. 107-56, title III, Sec. 371(a), (b), Oct. 26, 2001, 115
    Stat. 336, 337, provided that:
      "(a) Findings. - The Congress finds the following:
        "(1) Effective enforcement of the currency reporting
      requirements of subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, United
      States Code, and the regulations prescribed under such
      subchapter, has forced drug dealers and other criminals engaged
      in cash-based businesses to avoid using traditional financial
      institutions.
        "(2) In their effort to avoid using traditional financial
      institutions, drug dealers and other criminals are forced to move
      large quantities of currency in bulk form to and through the
      airports, border crossings, and other ports of entry where the
      currency can be smuggled out of the United States and placed in a
      foreign financial institution or sold on the black market.
        "(3) The transportation and smuggling of cash in bulk form may
      now be the most common form of money laundering, and the movement
      of large sums of cash is one of the most reliable warning signs
      of drug trafficking, terrorism, money laundering, racketeering,
      tax evasion and similar crimes.
        "(4) The intentional transportation into or out of the United
      States of large amounts of currency or monetary instruments, in a
      manner designed to circumvent the mandatory reporting provisions
      of subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code,,
      [sic] is the equivalent of, and creates the same harm as, the
      smuggling of goods.
        "(5) The arrest and prosecution of bulk cash smugglers are
      important parts of law enforcement's effort to stop the
      laundering of criminal proceeds, but the couriers who attempt to
      smuggle the cash out of the United States are typically low-level
      employees of large criminal organizations, and thus are easily
      replaced. Accordingly, only the confiscation of the smuggled bulk
      cash can effectively break the cycle of criminal activity of
      which the laundering of the bulk cash is a critical part.
        "(6) The current penalties for violations of the currency
      reporting requirements are insufficient to provide a deterrent to
      the laundering of criminal proceeds. In particular, in cases
      where the only criminal violation under current law is a
      reporting offense, the law does not adequately provide for the
      confiscation of smuggled currency. In contrast, if the smuggling
      of bulk cash were itself an offense, the cash could be
      confiscated as the corpus delicti of the smuggling offense.
      "(b) Purposes. - The purposes of this section [enacting this
    section] are -
        "(1) to make the act of smuggling bulk cash itself a criminal
      offense;
        "(2) to authorize forfeiture of any cash or instruments of the
      smuggling offense; and
        "(3) to emphasize the seriousness of the act of bulk cash
      smuggling."
Customized queries of TRAC's data TRAC FBI Web Site TRAC DEA Web Site TRAC Immigration Web Site TRAC DHS Web Site TRAC IRS Web Site TRAC ATF Web Site TRAC Reports Web Site
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University
Copyright 2010
TRAC Web Site