
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 12, 1994                   TAG: 9401120085
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder Newspapers
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

SUPREME COURT RULING MAKES IT HARDER TO PROVE CASES OF MONEY LAUNDERING

With freshman Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg leading the way, the Supreme Court on Tuesday made it tougher to convict people of evading a currency-reporting law aimed at drug dealers and tax dodgers.

The court ruled 5-4 that federal prosecutors must prove that defendants knew they were acting illegally when they deliberately divided cash transactions to avoid government scrutiny.

The ruling focused on the Bank Secrecy Act, a money-laundering law enacted to combat criminals who hide illegal cash profits in banks. The law requires banks to report cash transactions in excess of $10,000 to the government.

It also makes it a felony to "willfully" evade the requirement by dividing a large transaction into smaller ones.

The ruling stemmed from a high-stakes gambler's bad night in the High Sierra Casino in Reno, Nev., in October 1988.

After opening lines of credit, Waldemar Ratzlaf lost $160,000 in blackjack, later paying the debt with cashier's checks, each for less than $10,000 and each from a different bank in Nevada or California.

Ratzlaf, a restaurant owner in Portland, Ore., and his wife, Loretta, were convicted after the jury was instructed that it was no defense that they did not know they were violating the federal currency law.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court overturned the convictions.

by CNB