The other day we had two people come in to the branch together with a bag of cash that they had found in a house when preparing for an estate sale. The two individuals were discussing how to deposit the funds in to the business account, from what the teller overheard. On the first day they deposited $7,000 in cash and the next day they deposited $5,200 in cash. Both of these individuals are on the account and never asked about the CTR filing requirements. They just had a private discussion about how they wanted to split up the money to deposit the cash into the account. The teller never heard them say anything about evading the CTR filing requirements either. We don't want to make an assumption that these individuals split up the funds to avoid reporting requirements. So we are kind of on the fence on what we should do in this situation. These folks have had accounts with the bank for sometime and have not done anything suspicious in the past.

My question is, would anyone consider this a suspicious activity and file a SAR?

Yes, some would absolutely file for this. In fact, I would want a pretty good explanation as to why NOT to file this as this would now most likely be in your "SARs considered but not filed" file and could bring auditor/examiner scrutiny if the explanation is clear. Obviously, the concern is structuring as they had all the cash in the bank on day one but apparently purposefully chose to take some with them and come back the next day.

That said, there could be a reason why they did this that wasn't structuring (such as planning to take the day two portion to another bank/account, but having some reason they couldn't), but you didn't provide any such reason. Therefore, on paper, it smells like structuring - which in and of itself is SAR worthy. The conservative approach is to file and if you don't, I'd want a good explanation in the file as to why you didn't.

We don't know why they decided to split up the money in the bag. The teller did not over hear that part of the conversation and the teller did not know how much cash was in the bag prior to the first deposit. She also assumes that the additional cash deposited the following day was from the same bag. The first deposit was made in the branch with the bag in hand. The second deposit on day 2 was made through the drive through and obviously the bag was not seen. So there really is no way to say definitively say that the money from the bag on day one had anything to do with the deposit on day 2.

Does this make a difference on whether a SAR should be filed?

Maybe. They could have found more money, but it sounds like you don't know. Plus, didn't you say they did discuss how they wanted to break up the transaction? "The two individuals were discussing how to deposit the funds in to the business account, from what the teller overheard"

What exactly did the teller overhear?

She stated they discussed how to split the large cash deposit for deposit that night and the next day. That is what the teller stated on the possible SAR worksheet. She also stated they had been talking in hushed tones prior to approaching her window and then did discuss how to split the cash for deposit while at her window. They stood in front of the teller window and divided the cash.

If that is what is in your "possible SAR worksheet" and you didn't file, I would be surprised if you didn't get criticized from an auditor or examiner for not filing unless you had justification (like finding more money or attempting to deposit elsewhere but changing their mind) as to why it wasn't structuring.

We haven't made a decision on whether to file yet or not. I truly appreciate your opinion on this matter. This will definitely help us decide on which direction to go with this. Thank you, again.

I would file.

Me too - as said before you are not judge and jury and it is a lot harder to make a case for not filing, then you have all the defending you have to do with auditors and examiners, than just to file and put it behind you once and for all.

Not to mention this statement: "The other day we had two people come in to the branch together with a bag of cash that they had found in a house when preparing for an estate sale."

This money is not even theirs, it belongs to the estate.

I agree with everyone. If you can't find an apparent lawful reason they conducted the transactions the way they did, you probably have an obligation to file. In this case, it sure seems like they walked in with a reportable amount of money and decided to split it up, and they also seem to have a potential motive for wanting to evade reporting.

Your job isn't to prove structuring occurred, but to report things that look suspicious. I'd be looking for an extremely convincing narrative from an investigator that decided this didn't warrant a SAR.

all things being equal with what you know as reported by the teller, i see no reason you would not file a SAR

Thank you all for your opinions. I am fairly new to the BSA side of Compliance, so I value the opinions of those who are way more knowledgeable than I in this area. Thank you again. Have a great day.

Having handled BSA for so many years now I've lost count, a good rule of thumb is if you have to ask others "would you file", you probably should as there a reason you are asking (found strange/suspicious).

seals the deal for me, why is this even a question?