New York A 91: Establishes certain offenses relating to structuring and money laundering

Bill Text

STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                           91
                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                       (Prefiled)
                                     January 6, 2021
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by M. of A. QUART -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. SIMON --
          read once and referred to the Committee on Codes
        AN ACT to amend the penal  law,  in  relation  to  establishing  certain
          offenses relating to structuring and money laundering
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Section 470.00 of the penal law is amended by adding  three
     2  new subdivisions 11, 12 and 13 to read as follows:
     3    11.  "Structures"  for  purposes of sections 470.30 and 470.31 of this
     4  article, a person structures a transaction  when,  with  the  intent  to
     5  evade  any reporting requirement under the New York state banking law or
     6  31 U.S.C. §§ 5311 through 5326, or any regulation prescribed thereunder,
     7  he or she conducts or attempts to conduct one  or  more  related  trans-
     8  actions  in  currency,  in any amount, with one or more financial insti-
     9  tutions, on one or more days. Structuring includes, but is  not  limited
    10  to, the breaking down of a single sum of currency exceeding ten thousand
    11  dollars  into  smaller  sums,  including  sums  at or below ten thousand
    12  dollars, or the conduct of a transaction, or series of  currency  trans-
    13  actions,  including  transactions  at or below ten thousand dollars. The
    14  transaction or transactions need not  exceed  the  ten  thousand  dollar
    15  reporting threshold at any single financial institution or on any single
    16  day in order to constitute structuring.
    17    12.  "Monetary  transaction"  means  a  deposit,  withdrawal, transfer
    18  between accounts, exchange  of  currency,  loan,  extension  of  credit,
    19  purchase  or  sale  of any stock, bond, certificate of deposit, or other
    20  monetary instrument, use of a safe deposit box, or  any  other  payment,
    21  transfer,  or  delivery  by,  through, or to a financial institution, by
    22  whatever means effected, except that "monetary  transaction"  shall  not
    23  include  any  transaction  involving bona fide payments to attorneys for
    24  legal services.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in  (underscored) is new; matter in bracketsitalics
                              [] is old law to be omitted. 
                                                                   LBD01325-01-1

        A. 91                               2
     1    13. "Property derived from specified criminal conduct" means any prop-
     2  erty constituting, or  derived  from,  proceeds  of  specified  criminal
     3  conduct, and need not exclusively constitute or be derived from proceeds
     4  of specified criminal conduct.
     5    §  2.  The  penal  law  is amended by adding four new sections 470.30,
     6  470.31, 470.32 and 470.33 to read as follows:
     7  § 470.30 Structuring in the second degree.
     8    A person is guilty of structuring in the second degree when, with  the
     9  intent to evade any reporting requirement under the New York state bank-
    10  ing  law or 31 U.S.C. §§ 5311 through 5326, or any regulation prescribed
    11  thereunder, he or she structures one or more transactions.
    12    Structuring in the second degree is a class E felony.
    13  § 470.31 Structuring in the first degree.
    14    A person is guilty of structuring in the first degree when he  or  she
    15  commits  the  crime  of  structuring  in  the second degree and: (1) the
    16  conduct is committed with an intent to commit another crime or to aid or
    17  conceal the commission of another crime; or (2) the aggregate  value  of
    18  the  currency  reported  or  the currency that should have been reported
    19  exceeds one hundred thousand dollars in any twelve-month period.
    20    Structuring in the first degree is a class D felony.
    21  § 470.32 Criminal monetary transaction in the second degree.
    22    A person is guilty of engaging in a criminal monetary  transaction  in
    23  the second degree when he or she knowingly engages or attempts to engage
    24  in a monetary transaction in property derived from criminal conduct with
    25  a value greater than twenty thousand dollars and the property is derived
    26  from specified criminal conduct.
    27    Criminal  monetary transaction in the second degree is a class E felo-
    28  ny.
    29  § 470.33 Criminal monetary transaction in the first degree.
    30    A person is guilty of engaging in a criminal monetary  transaction  in