United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

SOUTHINGTON MAN WHO STRUCTURED CASH WITHDRAWALS IS SENTENCED

Nora R. Dannehy, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that GINO STEVENS, 35, of Southington, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to two years of probation for structuring currency transactions.  Judge Arterton also ordered STEVENS to perform 100 hours of community service and to pay a fine in the amount of $1000.  STEVENS pleaded guilty to the offense on December 2, 2009.

Federal law requires all financial institutions to file a Currency Transaction Report (CTR) for currency transactions that exceed $10,000.  To evade the filing of a CTR, individuals will often structure their currency transactions so that no single transaction exceeds $10,000.  Structuring involves the repeated depositing or withdrawal of amounts of cash less than the $10,000 limit, or the splitting of a cash transaction that exceeds $10,000 into smaller cash transactions in an effort to avoid the reporting requirements.  Even if the funds are derived from legitimate means, financial transactions conducted in this manner are still in violation of federal criminal law.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between approximately August 25, 2007 and October 10, 2008, STEVENS made multiple cash withdrawals totaling approximately $133,000 from an account he maintained at People’s Bank.  STEVENS admitted that he purposely kept the amounts of these withdrawals under $10,000 knowing that if the amounts were greater than $10,000, the bank would be required to file a CTR with the Internal Revenue Service.

For example, on June 18, June 19,  and June 21, 2008, STEVENS made cash withdrawals from his People’s Bank account in the amounts of $9,800, $8,900 and $9,900, respectively.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney James G. Genco.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov