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#972217 - 06/10/08 02:57 PM Treasury Employee Exempt from $3,000 rule?
mgs41 Offline
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 167
A customer intending on purchasing an official check with cash over $3,000 told the CSR he was exempt from the $3,000 recording rule because he was a U.S. Treasury Department Employee, and the official checks was being made payable to the U.S. Treasury. The customer has made several purchases of this kind, and each of the official checks has been cashed as intended, with the U.S. Treasury. I am not aware of any exemptions from the $3,000 rule, even for law enforcement. Has anyone else ever encountered such a claim?

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#972248 - 06/10/08 03:18 PM Re: Treasury Employee Exempt from $3,000 rule? mgs41
John Burnett Offline
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John Burnett
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Cape Cod
Bull. There is no such exemption from the cash purchases rule. For anyone.
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#972383 - 06/10/08 05:13 PM Re: Treasury Employee Exempt from $3,000 rule? mgs41
Elwood P. Dowd Offline
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Elwood P. Dowd
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Next to Harvey
Quote:
Has anyone else ever encountered such a claim?


Yes, but only from an FBI agent who was confiscating funds found in a safe deposit box.

Road apples, pure and simple.

From the BSA FAQ's:

Question 21: When a federal, state or local government official, as part of his or her official duties, engages in a transaction in currency over $10,000, or purchases a monetary instrument for more than $3,000 in currency, as a non-accountholder, what kind of identifying information must a financial institution obtain?

Answer 21: Government officials sometimes need to conduct large currency transactions as part of their official duties. For example, a law enforcement official may wish to convert seized currency into monetary instruments for security reasons. In such cases, when a transaction in currency over $10,000 is conducted on behalf of a government agency, rather than on behalf of an individual, the financial institution involved in the transaction should file a one-time Designation of Exempt Person form (TD F 90-22.53), to exempt the government agency from the currency transaction reporting requirements and document the basis for its conclusion. Subsequent transactions on behalf of the same government agency would be similarly exempt from the currency reporting requirements. If a financial institution chooses to file a currency transaction report, it generally is required only to obtain, verify, and record identifying information pertaining to the agency for which the individual is working. Thus, any employee identification number, address, or other identifying information obtained should correspond to the government agency involved, and not the government official conducting the transaction.

Notwithstanding the above, a financial institution should still obtain and record the name of the government official conducting the transaction and take those steps that a reasonable and prudent bank would take to verify and document that the customer is a government official conducting business on behalf of a government agency. Regarding the purchase of a monetary instrument for more than $3,000 in currency, a financial institution should record the date of birth of the government official, in addition to his or her name. (8/1/03)
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#972542 - 06/10/08 06:56 PM Re: Treasury Employee Exempt from $3,000 rule? Elwood P. Dowd
mgs41 Offline
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 167
Thank you both very much for confirming my suspicion!

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