Cogswell

OPINION AND ORDER

The Currency and Foreign Transaction Reporting Act requires a domestic financial institution to report to the Secretary of the Treasury any deposit or exchange of cur rency or other payment or transfer by or to such financial institution that involves a transaction of more than $10,000.

The government charges defendants, Robert C. Cogswell and David P. Schwindt, with arranging for another person, Donna Rainwater, to buy three cashier’s checks, each in the amount of $9,000, at three different banks in Marin County. The government then charges defendants with conspiracy to avoid having the banks make Currency Transaction Reports (“CTRs”), thereby concealing the accurate source, origin, transfer, and existence of the currency.

Defendants have moved to dismiss the indictment under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(b)(2) on the grounds that there is no duty imposed upon any bank to report transactions under $10,000, and on the further grounds that the defendants are under no duty to disclose to the banks or anyone else the accurate source, origin, transfer, and existence of the currency. For the reasons hereinafter set forth, the Court dismisses the…