Hotbed
According to a recent article in the Las Vegas Business Press, the Las Vegas Valley commerical real estate market may be becoming a hotbed for illegal money laundering. In fact, a study by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network reported a spike in the amount of suspected money laundering activity since 2003 among property-management companies, real estate investment firms (or REITs) and commercial real estate development groups.
The report found 9,528 suspicious activity reports associated with the commercial real estate industry during the last 10 years – most of which were issued by banking institutions. From that initial number, 260 “identified transactions or activities that at a minimum involved suspected money laundering, structuring and related illicit financial activities. Of these, 260 SAR narratives, 47 (18.08 percent) strongly suggested money laundering and related illicit activities”.
In Nevada alone during the first six months of 2006, banking institutions reported nearly 10,000 suspicious activity reports and casinos another 400.