Referenced in our Newsletter Volume 2, Issue 11 - November 2003
Financial Transactions Investigation
The following analysis was conducted based on a recent investigation involving the filing of suspicious financial transactions
(SARs) by banks located within Howard County, Maryland. Over a 2-year period, approximately 300 SARs were filed by banks
operating in this particular region. Although not a large number by any means, the SARs did provide interesting observations
regarding the movement of money within the region.
Howard County represents an affluent region within the Baltimore/Washington metropolitan area that is home to a number of
corporate executives, doctors, lawyers, and other business professionals. Not only does it provide a convenient locale for
those working in either Baltimore or Washington, but it is also a hub for many employed at the National Security Agency (NSA)
and Fort Meade. Additionally, it is situated along interstates 95 and 70, which are known drug corridors.
Howard County has quite a diverse makeup including various farmlands, equestrian estates, and ever-expanding residential
areas including Columbia, one of the first planned communities in the U.S. Additionally, the historic district of
Ellicott City provides a wide range of antique stores, shopping boutiques, a brewery, and several restaurants.
The population of Howard County in 2002 was approximately 250,000 and growing strongly. Additionally, Howard County is
the wealthiest county in Maryland with an average household income of over $83,000 and a per-capita-income of almost $35,000.
Howard County is also one of the smallest counties in the state with a total of 252 square miles.
The illustration to the right shows the counts based on a Summarization performed within VisuaLinks using the Document
Control Number (DCN) to uniquely identify each SAR. The results are grouped-by the CITY/STATE for the addresses listed on
the SARs. Quickly, we see the majority of the filings occurred within Howard County since the top CITY=COLUMBIA with 87
SAR filings. The next grouping shows that there are 45 SARs without a listed CITY or STATE.
Using the VisuaLinks Mapping feature, all the SARs for this data extraction were plotted onto a geographic map. The
coordinates were derived from the ZIP CODE contained on the SAR for the address. Based on a Disambiguator function
applied to the model wizard, the "centroid" (e.g., generalized central location) for the ZIP code is returned in
latitude and longitude values. This combination of features is invaluable for quickly determining the location of
any address based on its associated ZIP code (over 45,000 ZIP codes in the U.S.). Additionally, if data were derived
from public sources such as ChoicePoint®, Accurint®, or LexisNexis®, the specific latitude and longitude for the actual
street address are returned as part of the query. Thus, much finer resolution and detail can be presented when using these
types of reference sources. For our purposes, the centroid provides the best view of the data.
Reviewing the map shows that there is a heavy concentration in and around the Baltimore / Washington corridor.
Additionally, as is clearly shown, a number of SARs were filed on people near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as well as
Dover, Delaware. These outliers are checked to determine the nature of the suspiciousness. In the 3.0 version of
VisuaLinks, attribute-to-attribute comparisons can be performed to find these types of situations by looking for the
BRANCH-STATE of the filing institution NOT-EQUAL to the ADDRESS-STATE of the subject.
At this step, the investigators wanted to look at "high-value" targets and defined the minimum value of the SAR to be
$100,000. Keep in mind that a SAR can represent numerous transactions occurring over a period of time. Thus, the resulting
SARs often depict a number of individual transactions rolled-up into a single report and their accumulated value is what
will exceed $100K. The following diagram now shows the 30 addresses that are associated with SARs meeting this condition.
Immediately, the investigators noticed that the intensity of addresses around their original target area was no longer
supported with the $100K filter condition. The concentration appears mostly along the I-95 corridor and areas south of
Howard County.
Using the Zoom feature to take a closer look at the map, the remaining addresses are viewed in the following diagram.
It becomes much clearer that the high-value transactions are being conducted within Howard County from addresses outside the immediate area. In fact, many exceed 10-25 miles.
To emphasize this pattern, the map shown below uses a red transparent highlight to emphasize the Howard County area. From this we can quickly see that only several of the 30 transactions over $100K were conducted by people living within Howard County.
The investigators find these circumstances to be of interest because several subjects crossed state lines; many traveled at least 25 miles to conduct the transactions; and most were not from as affluent communities as Howard County. Drilling down on the NARRATIVEs associated with the SARs for the Howard County addresses showed that many of the SUBJECTs involved in these transactions were foreign nationals. Additionally, the main violation-type was some type of "structuring" - where money is layered into account(s).
The patterns exposed are just one particular viewpoint of the data with respect to identifying questionable actions and behaviors. The investigators now have well-qualified leads to pursue to determine if any actual wrong-doing has occurred.
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