<p>There’s also the question of how the merchant is going to deal with mass checking those $100 bills to ensure none of them are counterfeit, especially considering that denomination is reportedly heavily counterfeited around the world by organized criminals and rogue regimes. </p>
<p>Many businesses and moreso…individuals selling stuff privately I know of won’t accept $100 or $50 partially due to fears of counterfeiting. </p>
<p>While having cash on hand is great to negotiate cash discounts, when one’s dealing with amounts in the five figures or greater…that’s outweighed by risks…whether it’s incurring negative attention from the US customs/government, risks of loss through robbery/accident, or finding out one or one’s transaction partner ended up some counterfeited notes. </p>
<p>You can probably fit in the realm of $1.5 million in a normally sized attache case in $100 bills. That’s what makes that giant pile of money you saw in Breaking Bad seem so ridiculous. Imagine a cube of money, the same height and width of a dollar bill, but stacked 5 inches high. In $100 bills that’s $100,000. </p>
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<p>I don’t know, but presumably the same way drug dealers do it. </p>
<p>Presumably the main reasoning here is the dealer wants to cheat the taxman. Especially when dealing with a foreign national, they sell a $10,000 piece for $9000 and call it $5000 to the IRS, none will be the wiser. </p>
<p>I’d also ask in what currency is he planning to transport it? If it’s US dollars he’s going to pay a spread twice-once to convert it to dollars and again to reconvert anything he doesn’t spend back into his local currency. I agree with the others who say this sounds shady. Anyone I know who has that kind of personal money to spend on antiques has a personal tax advisor and an attorney to ask these questions of and wouldn’t be relying on the opinions of strangers on the internet.</p>
<p>You don’t know that guy isn’t. You don’t know his intention, maybe he thinks he can profit by reselling these in his home country. Maybe he’s so confident he’s betting everything he has on it. </p>
<p>I wire money to Europe a few times a year - after this thread, I was interested to see the process, so I just looked up the last few transaction confirmations. I sent money from two different accounts, but I noticed that in both cases the bank that actually sent the funds overseas was JP Morgan Chase Bank. The confirmation gives you a complete overview of the route the funds take to the final destination.</p>
<p>If anyone is interested, you can send smaller dollar amounts via PayPal to many countries and it’s really easy. If the amount is too small for a wire transfer or you don’t want to use a credit card, it’s an easy way to send cash or make a payment.</p>
<p>I didn’t read the whole thread so sorry if this has already been asked. But if the goal is to pay the antique dealer in cash, why can he not open an account in the U.S., wire the $ and then withdraw however much cash he might need for each transaction? </p>
<p>As an aside, I would never allow my personal bank account to be used as a depository or intermediary account for any foreign money.</p>
<p>From the article noted above “The schemes work because it’s notoriously tough to price fine art and antiques.” I smell a “scheme” although I’d probably spell it “scam” - </p>
<p>This is the US. If he puts the cash in a briefcase and doesn’t show anyone no one’s gonna think it’s a briefcase full of cash and steal it from him. </p>
<p>“This is the US. If he puts the cash in a briefcase and doesn’t show anyone no one’s gonna think it’s a briefcase full of cash and steal it from him.”</p>
<p>Ummm…Everyone behind him in customs is going to see what’s in that suitcase. I was thinking, “this is the U.S. Six out of ten people would cut his hand off for the suitcase full of funds.” I think customs would be within their rights to seize the money until the bearer can prove its origin. </p>
<p>I’m a retired former Customs inspector so I know a little about this.</p>
<p>Passengers who declare more than $10,000 when they enter the U.S. are escorted to a private secondary inspection area where the money is counted and verified against the FinCEN Form 105 (formerly known as a CF 4790). This is done behind closed doors so no other passengers will see what’s inside the suitcase. </p>
<p>And rest assured that someone bringing in that much money in cash will be scrutinized much more carefully than the average passenger. They will be asked to explain the reason they are transporting the cash and a report will likely be made documenting the intensive inspection of the passenger and his documents. CBP’s focus these days is on terrorism and money laundering that finances terrorism, thus the increased scrutiny of passengers transporting large sums. Failure to file the FinCEN 105 or to completely declare all cash and negotiable instruments will likely result in seizure of the funds.</p>
<p>Patsmom - Did you often see people carrying several hundred thousand in cash? How unusual (or common) is this? Would the inspectors scrutinize the documentation on $600K more than they would for $10K? </p>
<p>Would inspectors after asking why the cash was being transported and learning it was intended to buy antiques, then ask where, and then investigate that dealer/individual?</p>
<p>Thank you patsmom, finally there are some one knowledgeable here to answer some of the concerns.</p>
<p>Regarding the volume of “cash” and its exposure. When I start to post, I did not say “cash” as US currency in $100 bills, I said CASH or Equivalent, so the highest denomination of traveler’s check is $1000, for 600K that is only 600 pieces of paper, very easy to transport. No one in the right mind will bring 600k of $20 bills around in the airport.</p>
<p>Regarding the legitimacy, I have and will stress to point out that the intent is to bring in the money LEGALLY in a LEGAL business transaction, whether it is “antiques” or otherwise. You can interpolate it to any way you wanted, that is what I found in CC that people don’t answer the question from the OP but make up stories to fulfill their own fantasy.</p>
<p>Again, in the Asia, a lot of transactions large or small are made in CASH and that is norm than the exception, while in the US, it seems that ANY cash transactions fall into the “money laundry” category.</p>
<p>btw, our intent is to file FinCEN 105 ahead of the time and call the treasury to inform them the event before he departs from the origin and fully document the source and use of funds along side with the filing. At the custom, he is going to declare on the entry form and bring all the filings with him.</p>
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