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About three weeks ago Citigroup/SSB made it their policy to refuse wire transfer requests for any amounts of cash to be used as payment for gold and silver, including numismatic coins. How do they know? They require you to state the purpose of the transaction on their form.

This is what their Compliance Dept. is citing as justification. That $2000 you decide to use to buy American Eagles might be going out of their greedy clutches into what they call "non-traceable assets." It's ironic they cite money laundering for such small amounts, especially when they know exactly where the money came from, i.e. you sold some stock against their advice and don't want to keep it in their deposit account at .35%.

02/19/2003
Dow Jones News Services
(Copyright © 2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Metals and jewelry dealers that do more than $50,000 worth of business per year would need to set up an anti-money laundering strategy, under a new proposed rule released Wednesday by the US Treasury.

The proposed rule covers precious metals dealers and refiners, jewelry manufacturers, loose gemstone merchants and retail stores that also act as a dealer in such items. Retail-only stores aren't covered by the rule, nor are dealers that buy or sell less than the $50,000 threshold.

The proposal is part of a series of regulations connected with the Patriot Act, counterterrorism legislation passed shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Businesses covered in the legislation are required to develop a strategy to prevent money laundering and curtail terrorist financing.

Comments are due 60 days after the rule is published in the Federal Register; Treasury said it expects the rule to be published next week.

It's this kind of panic within government that makes me believe that this story about financial skullduggery is true.