Reporting threshold for NY money transfers lowered

I thought this might be of interest to cypherpunks:

The threshold for reporting New York money transfers was apparently
quietly lowered to $750 last month.  Looks like all it took was one
order signed by one Treasury official -- eek.  Can they lower the
$10k cash threshold just as easily?

*  NYT Sunday April 13, 1997
*  
*  U.S. Seizes $5.6 Million Hidden in a Truck on Way to Mexico
*  By Sam Dillon
*  
*  Mexico City, April 12 - United States officials said today that
*  $5.6 million discovered this week in a truck about to cross into
*  Mexico from El Paso was the largest cash seizure in memory along
*  the southwest border.
*  [snip]
*  
*  ...probably the proceeds of street drug sales...
*  [snip]
*  
*  Officials have seen a big increase in cash seizures lately...
*  [snip]
*  
*  In [another] case the authorities believe the traffickers
*  chose to move the cash south out of New York in bulk by
*  car because of an order signed by Mr. Kelly [Treasury
*  Under Secretary Raymond W. Kelly] which required New York
*  businesses transmitting cash to report all transactions
*  over $750.
*  
*  Although the order was not announced, word spread quickly
*  among traffickers, and a dramatic drop in money wires to
*  Colombia followed, along with a sharp increase in seizures
*  of cash along the eastern seaboard.

Thanks to <guy@panix.com> for forwarding.

At 2:31 PM -0700 5/15/97, David Wagner wrote:
>I thought this might be of interest to cypherpunks:
>
>The threshold for reporting New York money transfers was apparently
>quietly lowered to $750 last month.  Looks like all it took was one
>order signed by one Treasury official -- eek.  Can they lower the
>$10k cash threshold just as easily?
>
[snip]
>*  Although the order was not announced, word spread quickly
>*  among traffickers, and a dramatic drop in money wires to
>*  Colombia followed, along with a sharp increase in seizures
>*  of cash along the eastern seaboard.
>

Correct me if I'm wrong, but under current law ecash tokens are neither
legal tender, foreign currency or money transmission instruments.  So, a
merchant exchanging them for legal tender needn't follow these tightened
regulations (i.e., only the $10K limit would still apply).  Of course,
Congress will be busy drafting new regulations if larger transaction use of
ecash starts to take off.

Seems to me that if accountless ecash were sold via a multi-level marketing
approach, where hordes of ordinary citizens would offer to purchase/redeem
the tokens (at a discount for their trouble), it might substitute for these
moneychaning merchants and make an interesting market.  Smaller operators
could deposit the funds in their demand deposit accounts or sell to
Aggregators who would offer to take any CTR related heat. Aggregators could
maintain that they are merely treating the tokens they purchase as a
commodity, they have no legal tender basis.

--Steve


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At 1:31 PM -0800 5/15/97, David Wagner wrote:

>*  Mexico City, April 12 - United States officials said today that
>*  $5.6 million discovered this week in a truck about to cross into
>*  Mexico from El Paso was the largest cash seizure in memory along
>*  the southwest border.
>*  [snip]
>*
>*  ...probably the proceeds of street drug sales...
>*  [snip]
...
>*  Although the order was not announced, word spread quickly
>*  among traffickers, and a dramatic drop in money wires to
>*  Colombia followed, along with a sharp increase in seizures
>*  of cash along the eastern seaboard.

Yet more reasons to get "smart cards" of even less than perfect
cryptographic quality deployed.

If persons planning to buy drugs and other illegal substances could set up
offshore accounts (perhaps by taking a day trip to Anguilla, even declaring
the $10K cash they are taking with them, or using conventional checks in
Anguilla, etc.) and then use the resulting "cash cards" (details left vague
here...maybe Mondex, maybe Mark Twain anonymous bank cards...), the dealers
could then simply have their Anguilla accounts increased by the transaction.

(I use "Anguilla" as my stand in here, as Vince Cate says such things will
be perfectly legal in Anguilla, given that no Anguillan laws are being
violated (e.g., no drugs are being shipped in or out of Anguilla). Of
course, I strongly doubt the Ruling Families of Anguilla will allow this,
so another country may have to be picked.)

This whole exercise is why, of course, the fatuous rhetoric about SAFE and
Pro-CODE, etc., making financial cryptography readily exportable is just
that, fatuous. No way will such anonymous transfer mechanisms be
exportable. And probably not importable, either, given the import
restrictions being planned for the Grand Compromise Omnibus Safe Cyberspace
and Child Protection Act of 1997, co-sponsored by Goodlatte, Kerrey, Burns,
and Feinstein.

--Tim May

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."