The IRS wouldn’t have acted unless the bank filed SAR reports on her.
Unfortunately for her, structuring is worse than money laundering. Everything she has is either going to end up with the feds or a lawyer. And it does sound like she is guilty - and stupid enough to admit it: ““My mom had told me if you keep your deposits under $10,000, the bank avoids paperwork,”. She can probably stay out of prison if her record is otherwise clean.
And sometimes there are things as mentioned in the article: insurance policies covering cash losses that will cover only up to 10 grand. Well, what does a policy holder do... yes, make all deposits while cash holdings are still under 10 grand! That isn’t what the “anti structuring” legislators had in mind, but the folks with hearts of paper don’t care.
If you meant you one of the snobs who doesn’t commit three felonies a day without knowing it like most Americans do, then I congratulate you on your innocence.
The truth is we all break some laws every day everywhere. No person can possibly be conversant with all the laws on the books.
No one could get anything done if they did. Compliance is effectively impossible, given the way the system is structured.
“And it does sound like she is guilty - and stupid enough to admit it:”
Did we read the same article? From what I can tell this woman is “guilty” of running a business and depositing her proceeds in the bank.
The USA is no longer a free country.
I seriously dislike the idea of government intrusion into my life. So if I had $10,000.01 in cash to deposit, I’d be inclined to make 2 deposits. These laws were supposedly created to identify drug dealers, but they are being used to harass and threaten honest citizens. I’d like to see the statistics on how many drug dealers are caught this way. I’m betting not enough to justify this level of harassment.
In most places the cops know exactly who the drug dealers are, but they do not go after them because it is dangerous and a lot of work. Instead, they raise revenue by writing traffic tickets on decent hard-working people who are no threat.
I have no knowledge of this particular case, but I’d bet if this woman were really dangerous, they would have either left her alone or sent a SWAT team.