25 Charged as Members of $10M Illegal Gambling & Money Laundering Op

Not sure where to post this but thought it'd be of interest:

Twenty-Five People Charged as Members of $10 Million Illegal Gambling and Money Laundering Operation....

https://www.fbi.gov/sandiego/press-releases/2015/twenty-five-people-charged-as-members-of-10-million-illegal-gambling-and-money-laundering-operation

Very long quotation removed by management.

Poster given official warning for over-quoting.

The wheels of justice grind slowly. In 2008 the feds knew about this and were investigating Fat Dave in his home town of Philly. He was traveling back to Phili to divide his share with Bent Finger Lou in 2008.

http://articles.philly.com/2008-07-23/news/25246922_1_bookmaking-investigators-joey-merlino

I don't understand money laundering. So if someone has 10mil made through illegal activities, why do they launder it? Wouldn't it be smarter to just keep it as cash and hide it, or do they worry they it would through flags that they can buy a car with cash with no reportable income?

If you pay your taxes it is a business and enterprise. If not you are an absolute poop stain to be crashed on. LOL.

That's a bummer. Seven Mile is fairly new, having just opened recently. I am not sure how involved they are in the illicit activities, but it seems the indictment is mixing the sports booking with the "Mansion" casino. An on again, off again mansion would not make nearly as much as the book; even less so if they offered poker.

Every year my company requires every single employee to take an anti-money laundering training class for about an hour or 2
I work for a large financial company that never ever wants to be caught money laundering

Could someone briefly explain how money laundering through a casino would work?

A typical example of money laundering in a casino would be if a patron came in and exchanged a large cash for chips, plays one or two hands and then cashes out. Same thing with slot machines. Patron comes in, feeds a large amount of cash into the machine, spins a couple times and then gets a TITO and cashes out. In both cases the customer has tried to hide the original source of the funds as casino wins. This website would probably be more informative: https://www.fincen.gov/

But what is the point of that? I could see if it was counterfeit but if it is real money then why do they need to get chips then cash out? To get different serial numbers would be my only other guess but that would only matter for stolen money.

Quote: GWAE

But what is the point of that? I could see if it was counterfeit but if it is real money then why do they need to get chips then cash out? To get different serial numbers would be my only other guess but that would only matter for stolen money.

I've heard of drug deals getting "seeded" with marked or recorded bills (where only a few are special so it's hard to tell there's any attention to them). Then they track the spending so they can back-track the laundering. Not an expert in this, just read something about it.

Just a wild guess but maybe they were laundering the proceeds from those illegal mansion games through the legit card rooms?

Quote: GWAE

But what is the point of that? I could see if it was counterfeit but if it is real money then why do they need to get chips then cash out? To get different serial numbers would be my only other guess but that would only matter for stolen money.

Someone with $100k of illegally-obtained cash (drug-dealing, etc) goes to the casino and puts it in play just long enough to cash out and can then claim the source of those funds is through gambling. He pays his taxes, has documentation and now the dirty money is clean.

Laundered.

P.S. if he does it right he might even swing a free buffet!

I see, so they really could claim they bought in for 1000 and won 100k even though they bought in for 100k

Pretty much, which is why casinos are now required by law to track transactions above certain amounts. In the case someone did as described in my earlier post, then the casino would be required to send FinCEN a transactional report along with a SAR detailing the suspicious activity. If the casino did not (and they are tested) then a pretty hefty fine can be placed on them. One of the last fines I read about was for 25 million if my memory is correct. FinCEN is fairly small though, so in order to audit a casino they use IRS staff which means casinos do not get audited by FinCEN very often but that is supposedly changing. FinCEN for the last few years have been stating to casinos that the casinos are on FinCEN's radar and they will be auditing casinos for Title 31 compliance much more often.

Quote: MrV

Could someone briefly explain how money laundering through a casino would work?

Myself interested to know about this. How may this happen through a casino?

Quote: Esposito

Myself interested to know about this. How may this happen through a casino?

Are you just trying to build post count. The question was answered in this thread.

Well, my posts don't never count... but here is my dirty two cents which after washing will be a bright shiny penny.

The IRS often tallies up someone's "lifestyle spending" and charges them with having evaded taxes because they have spent too lavishly for their declared income.

So any money that can be laundered removes a risk. A hooker comes in with ten grand in cash, puts two stacks on Red and Black at the roulette table and then collects ten grand in winnings. Her 'cash' is no longer tainted, she can spend it as 'gambling winnings' which are within her lifestyle. The casino which steers customers to her can't follow every bet closely.

All businesses want to legitmize the cash by bringing in into the business world clean rather than as a ton of tainted small bills.

But couldn't one just lie and said they won it?

Quote: GWAE

But couldn't one just lie and said they won it?

There is a difference between washing and laundering.

Washing = turning small bills into large ones.

laundering = making illegal money look like it was obtained legally so you can spend it.

I believe the term laundering came from the fact that mobsters oftentimes started bogus laundromats(cheap to start and hard to prove actual profitability) and claimed more profits than they were actually making.
-----------------------------------------
You could probably lie a few times for small amounts, but that's not who they are worried about.

Casino keep win loss statements for this reason.

Kinda funny that I never really knew what laundering was. I thought it was counterfeit money being exchanged for real money.

I feel like the scene in office space when they discuss it.

Quote: GWAE

Kinda funny that I never really knew what laundering was. I thought it was counterfeit money being exchanged for real money.

I feel like the scene in office space when they discuss it.

I'm not sure what they call that. However once you do exchange it. You now have illegal money so now you want to spend it. That's where laundering comes in.

Casino win loss statement from my experience are not worth the paper they are printed on

Quote: Wizardofnothing

Casino win loss statement from my experience are not worth the paper they are printed on

You miss understand what i'm saying , the casinos do win loss statements to keep track of YOU. They were not originally made for the players to use.

They may not be sufficient proof of your W/L, however if the authorities wanted to use them against you they would suddenly be proof positive.

I rely in part on my W/L statement when doing my income tax returns.

No problems to date, but then again I've never been audited.

I also keep a wriitten record of the dates gambled, the casinos visited, and the total amount won or lost each day at craps and slots.

You said the key word- haven't been audited

You can win 10 mil and write it off- no problem until you get audited - then without win loss logs with sitter color inks and frayed pages to show use may may may suffice- win loss statements from casinos won't help at all

My thinking is that the combination of W/L plus notes of daily profit or loss will suffice.

Let's just hope I never find out.

I work as a dealer and they teach us all this. Google search casino title 31. Everything you need to know will be there.

The feds hate legal gambling more than illegal gambling. So most of that talk about laundering money at legal casinos is just that, talk, Amazing Bent Finger Lou investigation in 2008 was 5 years in the making and Fat Dave was on West Coast in 2003 and flying back to Phili several times a year and was on the FBI map as part of Lou's family. And it only took another 7 years for FBI to arrest Fat Dave. What a joke !

I'm no expert here- but if I were to find a suitcase full of unexplained cash, this is what I'd do:

Go to the largest casino - one I don't play at - Let's say Beau Rivage in Biloxi.

Go to a video poke machine. Feed it $500 to $1000.

Just cash it out. Not even play a hand.

Repeat a couple of times.

Go to the ticket / cash out machine. Feed it one ticket.
Go to another ticket/cash out machine, feed it another.

Keep going until I've swapped all my "found" money for the casino's "clean" money. That deals with any serial number issues. Obviously, the more money you have, the more tedious this would be.

Now, to come up with a way to explain the reason behind the accumulation of funds - small, numerous pay outs.

Apply online for a Bluebird (American Express) card. They're free, and issues without credit check.

Deposit a grand or so, on different days.

Now you have stored value that you can pull out when you want at any atm.

Repeat as necessary

Speaking as one that has found a suitcase full of cash, yes I really did, I can tell you what not to do....
Do not stuff the gym bag full of cash into an empty cardboard box and carry it up three flights of stairs and dump it in the pile of empty cardboard boxes in the hallway outside of Burt Reynold's new restuarant.
Especially you shouldn't do this if as you pass that second flight of stairs there is an unusual and rather intense looking person standing in the doorway holding the door open. All this in what are basically fire exit stairwells in a major hotel/entertainment/shopping complex in a major city on the day after Thaksgiving if the gym bag full of cash was placed where you found it by the GBI and they thought they had all the exits covered, covered with serious firepower. And the bad guy gets away, albeit without the cash, and you were the only person that saw him, and could pick him out of a line-up. You will find yourself with a lot of explaining to do, and a bunch of other hassles.

Quote: ukaserex

Go to a video poke machine. Feed it $500 to $1000.

Just cash it out. Not even play a hand.

Repeat a couple of times.

Good luck with that. Most systems have checks in place to notify someone when a player is putting in money and cashing out without the appropriate level of play. You are not the first one to think of that.

Quote: DRich

Good luck with that. Most systems have checks in place to notify someone when a player is putting in money and cashing out without the appropriate level of play. You are not the first one to think of that.

Interesting. Seems like it'd have to be a large amount, or Ive been lucky where the machines I've done that on didn't have the check in place....or else they did check me out and realized what I was doing was OK. I've made 6-7 $1K tickets in a row with no issues. Of course I've used them to play, not just an immediate cash out.

Quote: RS

Interesting. Seems like it'd have to be a large amount, or Ive been lucky where the machines I've done that on didn't have the check in place....or else they did check me out and realized what I was doing was OK. I've made 6-7 $1K tickets in a row with no issues. Of course I've used them to play, not just an immediate cash out.

If you are using a player card they are more lenient because they can look at your history and if you actually play. Otherwise they can refuse to cash out your tickets until you provide ID and they fill out an SAR.

Quote: ukaserex

I'm no expert here- but if I were to find a suitcase full of unexplained cash, this is what I'd do:

Go to the largest casino - one I don't play at - Let's say Beau Rivage in Biloxi.

Go to a video poke machine. Feed it $500 to $1000.

Just cash it out. Not even play a hand.

Repeat a couple of times.

Go to the ticket / cash out machine. Feed it one ticket.
Go to another ticket/cash out machine, feed it another.

Keep going until I've swapped all my "found" money for the casino's "clean" money. That deals with any serial number issues. Obviously, the more money you have, the more tedious this would be.

Now, to come up with a way to explain the reason behind the accumulation of funds - small, numerous pay outs.

Apply online for a Bluebird (American Express) card. They're free, and issues without credit check.

Deposit a grand or so, on different days.

Now you have stored value that you can pull out when you want at any atm.

Repeat as necessary

You do realize that a casino is really just a bank with better surveillance cameras. All those bills you deposited at the casino will be traced back to you in very short order.

Money laundering is why Walter White bought
the car wash, so he could legitimize some of his
drug money. It's why the Mob owned restaurants
and nightclubs. With fake receipts you can claim
you make 10 times what you really made. That
way you can buy an expensive house and the
gov't can see where you got the money. It's
why Tony Soprano had the strip joint.

Quote: ukaserex

I'm no expert here- but if I were to find a suitcase full of unexplained cash, this is what I'd do:

Go to the largest casino - one I don't play at - Let's say Beau Rivage in Biloxi.

Go to a video poke machine. Feed it $500 to $1000.

Just cash it out. Not even play a hand.

Repeat a couple of times.

Go to the ticket / cash out machine. Feed it one ticket.
Go to another ticket/cash out machine, feed it another.

Keep going until I've swapped all my "found" money for the casino's "clean" money. That deals with any serial number issues. Obviously, the more money you have, the more tedious this would be.

Now, to come up with a way to explain the reason behind the accumulation of funds - small, numerous pay outs.

Apply online for a Bluebird (American Express) card. They're free, and issues without credit check.

Deposit a grand or so, on different days.

Now you have stored value that you can pull out when you want at any atm.

Repeat as necessary

I think some member of the forum did this to the VP machine and the whole sum of money is VOID.

What about putting a bunch of hundreds into a casino "bill breaker" machine, over and over?

Quote: MrV

What about putting a bunch of hundreds into a casino "bill breaker" machine, over and over?

I was thinking you should be able to do that. But then what have you got? Seems like what someone would have is whole lot of small bills, and still no explanation, paper-trail, excuse, or anything they didn't have before for where the big honkin' sack of green moolah originally came from.

I know of one thing that is sometimes done, or at least I think and pretty strongly believe that I do, and I have some reason to think it is being done right now by at least one specific high-profile individual who goes to great lengths to represent himself in public (and more than once in court) as a super successful brilliant gambler/sports-bettor. As best I believe I understand it, from what I'm told by some who are in a position where I think they should know what they're talking about, it is like this: Someone I'll name "Vinny The Weasel" has a million bucks he needs to launder from something like his bi-weekly take off the gals he controls in the back room of the Bada Bing in, let's just randomly say Philly, who are strongly rumored in that cheesesteak & canolli neighborhood to be in the not entirely legal business of selling some kind of magic dust and certain 'under-the-table' type personal relaxation services, along with the 'office' for some undocumented highly informal extraordinary daily-rate high-interest loans in the neighborhood. If Vincent T. Weasel doesn't do anything to report the proceeds of his financial wizardry to the IRS as required by law he could end up getting assigned an inmate number in Leavenworth, and if he does accurately report it he surely will.

But lucky for Mr. V.T. Weasel, his "family" is able to recommend a friendly helpful and discreet fellow. William Liquidity the self-described sports genius in Vegas is available to solve just his sort of problem. W.L. places a million bucks in wagers (through a platoon of runners he regularly uses to be able to get all the action down) on both sides of a game, betting both on say the Mets, and also on the opposite side on the Royals, weighted for an equal net payout return regardless of outcome. Royals win (yeah right whatever as far as Vinny & William are concerned) and he potentially cashes out for almost but not quite a million, after accounting for about five percent in vig and a little more for the kickback for his runners. The Weasel gets back actual hard copy winning tickets amounting to something like 85-90% of his million bucks if that's what best suits his little laundry & document problem, and Mr. Liquid still profits easy-peasy no-risk to the tune of about five percent or so of the million (with the same documentary paper trail) for providing the felonious tickee-tickee, washee-washee service, while Vinny now has documentation of his claim that he's just a semi-respectable little corner businessman who happens to be lucky to also be a great big whale of a gambling man with brass cojones. As does Mr. Liquidity, the great sports "handicapper/bettor."

At least, that's how I think I understand this particular version of doing it, as someone who truly has never been involved in anything of the sort, and therefore may very easily misunderstand some part, from what I recall of what I've been told by a few individuals I know of who you may or may not wish to believe. In this case, I happen to think that I do have reason to tend to believe them, though I could certainly be wrong to do so or could have something in how it works mixed up.

Somebody once told me they knew a guy who wants to sell $100k in $20s and $10s..... Sounds sketchy but they guy that told me is trustworthy, but I don't know anything about the guy with money. I think we haggled for $90k but nothing came out of it. So I guess some people are just lazy.

I'm still amazed at the stories I hear from APs.