I can understand that making lots of cash deposits under $10k can raise suspicion of tax evasion, but withdrawals? I don't think either activity, especially withdrawals, is actually "illegal".
What if you get diagnosed with some disease, and are given a year to live. Can't you start withdrawing wads of cash and go live it up at a casino and squeeze in a little fun with your hard-earned savings while you're on your way out? Is that illegal now?
It’s not illegal but it can get you SWAT raided.
Many seem to be conflating the two issues of withdrawing sums greater than $10,000 at a time and not reporting it.
It’s not illegal to withdrawl a sum greater than $10,000 from your own account. What’s illegal is not reporting it. That’s the whole issue, he withdrew increments less than that so he wouldn’t have to report it, for whatever reason, and then lied about where the money went (allegedly lied).
Of course one can make an argument that it shouldn’t be one’s responsibility to report such transactions to the IRS. I certainly don’t believe it’s any of their danged business. But that’s the law now.
It’s not illegal to do it and you don’t have to pay tax on it you just have to report it. It’s still yours to do with as you want, of course!
it’s not a crime to make deposits or withdrawls over 10k. its just that the bank is required to report it and ask you about it. if you change your deposit/withdrawl activity to avoid the reports and questions then its called “structuring” and that is illegal. in your scenario you just withdrawl what you want and when they ask you tell them as much as you feel comfortable and they’ll be on their way. like most other scandals, it’s the ‘tyring to hide it” that gets you in trouble