The sales associate award was further divided among Traditional Branch and In-Store banking locations. One executive also said that federal regulators and enforcement agencies should do a better job of informing banks of organizations or foreign banks suspected of laundering money. Or, for Highlights, please see the next item. More than 100,000 reports were filed in the first eight months of 2000, likely a record year for the crime-fighting tools that some consumer advocates consider a violation of privacy. Banks are prohibited from telling people and allowing them to defend themselves when a SAR is filed.
Banks are also immune to civil litigation involving the reports.
The review, issued by the U. S. Treasury Department's Financial Crime Enforcement Network, does not disclose how many reports were investigated or helped to uncover illegal activity. But it outlines several cases cracked because because of suspicious activity reports. The review also said that senior law enforcement officials requested information about filed reports to help determine the scope of what the federal government believes is a steady increase in Russian organized crime in the U.S. since the early 90's. Possible money laundering through casinos also was highlighted. The leader, California, had 27,354 filings.