April 27, 2010
ICE brings to prosecution a Virginia doctor soon to be sentenced for financial crimes
As a lead agency investigating bulk cash smuggling, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents frequently intercept vast amounts of cash-much of it tracked directly to transnational criminals trying to funnel illicit proceeds out of the country.
An ICE-led investigation that began in October 2009, however, highlights how ICE can bring to prosecution individuals who otherwise abide by the law, yet try to conceal or transport more than $10,000 in currency, with the intent to evade federal reporting requirements.
On February 16, 2010, Andrew Silva was convicted of conspiracy to evade currency reporting requirements, tax evasion and lying to federal officials. His sentencing is in May and he faces a possible 10 years in prison plus a $500,000 fine.
Make no mistake, Silva is no Al Capone nor is he a gang member, a narcotics trafficker or a terrorist. In fact, Silva is a pediatrician-an ear, nose and throat surgeon-residing in Sterling, Va. Now, he is also a convicted felon. Silva's medical license is currently suspended, and he could lose his license to ever practice medicine again.
In 1997, Silva inherited $250,000 from his mother in Zurich, Switzerland. Working with a Swiss attorney, Silva kept this sum in a "hush" Swiss bank account without ever declaring his windfall to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
Silva ignored federal law that states anyone with a financial interest, or authority over a financial account that exceeds $10,000 in a country at any time during the year, is required to file with the IRS a Foreign Bank Account Report. U.S. residents (or a person in and doing business in the U.S.) are required to keep a record and/or file reports concerning transactions with a foreign financial institution.
"If Silva thought Swiss financial institutions are, and always would be safe havens to hide funds from tax authorities and financial regulatory agencies, he was wrong," said Scot R. Rittenberg, Deputy Special Agent in Charge (DSAC) of ICE, Office of Investigations, Washington, D.C.-Va.
In September 2009, the U.S. and Switzerland signed a treaty to share more tax information. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the treaty "will increase our ability to enforce our tax laws and will help bring an end to an era of offshore accounts and investments being used for tax evasion."
In view of the treaty, Silva and his Swiss attorney masterminded a scheme to move Silva's money from the Swiss bank to his home. Thus began Silva's rapid descent from a respected doctor to a convicted criminal.
Silva withdrew cash from his Swiss account and taped it to the inside pages of multiple brochures, careful to include just under $10,000 per brochure (staying under the federal reporting requirements). Packaging the cash-laden brochures in envelopes, he mailed each one at different times from different Swiss post offices to his Virginia residence.
The carefully hatched plot was foiled in October 2009, when Newark Airport mail facility personnel intercepted one of Silva's envelopes. Opening the brochure, they found sequentially marked $100 dollar bills totaling $8,700. This amount did not constitute a legal violation, but the odd mailing transaction with this much cash emanated a strong scent of foul play to ICE, who followed up with a further investigation.
By December 2009, ICE seized $101,500 from 12 intercepted mailing envelopes that Silva had addressed to himself, his wife and his children. A federal search warrant of Silva's home turned up another $110,000 hidden in a closet.
Lest anyone get the impression Silva's case is an isolated incident, it's just one illustration of how ICE, the nation's second largest federal law enforcement agency, investigates not only criminal organizations, but individuals who seek to earn, move and store their funds within the U.S. and offshore while evading detection.
ICE agents have discovered that cash-lots of it-can crop up in unexpected places before its illegal journey is intercepted. ICE has found the following and more in recent years:
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$176,320 packed inside the pant legs of an air traveler headed for Turkey
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$3 million hidden in a compartment of a bus headed for Mexico
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$515,000 in a false-bottom suitcase about to embark to Columbia
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$2.1 million concealed in a boat in Puerto Rico
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$147,921 strapped underneath the shirt of a woman headed to Mexico
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$186,000 rolled and concealed in cigarette packs destined for Turkey
"At ICE, we follow the money trail to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most complicated financial schemes and seize criminal assets," said DSAC Rittenberg.
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Get the Facts: Secure Communities
Background:
Secure Communities is a comprehensive Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiative to modernize the criminal alien enforcement process. It supports public safety by strengthening efforts to identify and remove the most dangerous criminal aliens from the United States. Congress appropriated $1.4 billion to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for criminal alien enforcement efforts.
Secure Communities is built on three pillars that address the frequent challenges associated with accurately identifying and successfully removing criminal aliens from the United States.
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Identify criminal aliens through modernized information sharing;
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Prioritize enforcement actions to ensure apprehension and removal of dangerous criminal aliens; and
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Transform criminal alien enforcement processes and systems to achieve lasting results.
Here's how it works:
When someone is booked into local custody, their fingerprints are taken. Those fingerprints are checked against FBI databases [DOJ's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS)] for criminal history. With Secure Communities, those fingerprints will also be checked against the DHS databases [DHS's Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT)].
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When fingerprint submissions match immigration records, local ICE officers are automatically notified and can promptly determine if enforcement action is required.
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Criminal history and immigration information can also be shared with state law enforcement agencies. State law enforcement may provide this information to the local booking agency if the agency has the technical capability to receive such information.
Facts:
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Since its inception in October 2008, Secure Communities has identified more than 18,000 aliens charged with or convicted of Level 1 crimes, such as murder, rape and kidnapping - 4,000 of whom have already been removed from the United States.
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At the root, Secure Communities is about information sharing with local law enforcement agencies so they and the federal government have all the facts about the people in their jails
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Secure Communities gets the job done without imposing a major cost or resource burden on local law enforcement.
Allegations of racial profiling:
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To date, ICE has not received any complaints of racial profiling.
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Secure Communities is a color blind system. Fingerprint-matching databases do not lie and they can not tell what race a person is.
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Secure Communities reduces the opportunity for allegations of racial and ethnic profiling because the fingerprints of every individual arrested and booked into custody are checked against immigration records, not just those manually submitted by local officers
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Also, because biometrics are unique and virtually impossible to forge, this means criminal aliens can no longer hide behind a long list of aliases.
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ICE encourages reporting of any allegations of racial profiling, due process violations, or other violations of civil rights or civil liberties related to the use of IDENT/IAFIS Interoperability. All complaints should be filed with the DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), on the CRCL complaint intake Web site.
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ICE regularly meets with NGOs, including those organizing this week's events such as the National Day Laborers Organizing Network, Immigration Policy Center, the ACLU and the Rights Working Group, among others.
Frequently Asked Questions:
If Secure Communities is prioritizing the identification and removal of criminal aliens charged with or convicted of Level 1 offenses, why is ICE identifying and removing more aliens charged with or convicted of Level 2 and 3 offenses?
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ICE is identifying more aliens charged with or convicted of Level 2 and Level 3 offenses because more individuals commit and are arrested for crimes falling under these levels. However, ICE prioritizes the removal of aliens charged with or convicted of Level 1 offenses, which is demonstrated by the overall higher removal percentages for aliens charged with or convicted of Level 1 offenses, versus the percentage of removals of aliens charged with or convicted of Level 2 and 3 offenses.
Why does interoperability sometimes identify criminal aliens for potential removal who are simply charged with crimes instead of focusing solely on those actually convicted of crimes?
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ICE has the authority to take enforcement action toward any alien subject to removal.
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Interoperability identifies aliens charged with or convicted of crimes at the earliest possible opportunity-when they are arrested booked into jail or prison. By identifying these individuals early in the criminal justice process, ICE has the necessary time to determine appropriate enforcement action against aliens who pose a threat before they are released from local custody.
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Interoperability also reveals previous criminal history information to ICE officers which may make the individual in custody charged with a crime subject to removal based on prior convictions
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative agency in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Formed in 2003 as part of the federal government's response to the 9/11 attacks, ICE's mission is to protect the security of the American people and homeland by vigilantly enforcing the nation's immigration and customs laws.
ICE combines innovative investigative techniques, new technological resources and a high level of professionalism to provide a wide range of resources to the public and to our federal, state and local law enforcement partners.
ICE is comprised of four operational divisions:
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Office of Intelligence (Intel)
With more than 19,000 employees in over 400 offices in the U.S. and around the world, ICE plays a vital role in the DHS layered defense approach to protecting the nation.
