Kilgore Man Sentenced for Structuring Violation
Posted/updated on: December 1, 2011 at 4:23 pm
TYLER – United States Attorney John M. Bales has announced that Candido Patino was sentenced in Tyler for structuring and assisting in structuring transactions with a domestic financial institution in the Eastern District of Texas. Patino, 46, pleaded guilty to a violation of 31 U.S.C. § 5324 (structuring) on June 1, 2011. Tuesday, during a hearing before United States Judge Leonard E. Davis, Patino was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment, a fine of $10,000, and a term of supervised release of 2 years.
Financial institutions are required to file a Currency Transaction Report (CTR) with the Internal Revenue Service when a customer conducts a currency transaction (i.e., a deposit or withdrawal) in excess of $10,000. Making cash deposits or withdrawals in amounts or in a manner to cause the financial institution to fail to file a CTR is referred to as “structuring” and is prohibited by federal law.
According to information presented in court, Patino operated a money transmitting business out of a restaurant he owned in Kilgore. Individuals who wanted to transfer funds to Mexico typically paid cash to Patino for such services. Patino then deposited the currency into a bank account at a federally-insured credit union. Between July 2008 and October 2009, Patino, who was aware of the credit union’s reporting obligation, made over 300 structured cash deposits in a manner intended to evade the CTR requirement.
