ANNE ARUNDEL, CALVERT, CHARLES, ST. MARY’S & PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTIES.
Money Laundering & Structuring Defense | Haskell & Dyer
These Charges Require Proof of What You Knew. That Is Harder Than the Government Makes It Sound.
Moving or structuring funds to avoid reporting carries serious penalties and complex elements. We test whether the government can actually prove the knowledge and intent these charges require.
If You're Under Investigation
Do not explain your banking or your cash deposits.
These cases are built on transaction records and what you knew about them. Trying to explain a deposit pattern can hand the government the knowledge and intent it has to prove. If agents contact you or a bank flags your accounts, stay quiet, ask for a lawyer, and call before you respond to anything.
Two Different Charges, One Common Thread
Knowledge and Intent Are Everything
Money laundering and structuring are distinct offenses, but both turn on your state of mind: what you knew about the money, and what you intended. That is where the government's proof is most often thin.
Money Laundering
Did You Know It Was Dirty?
Money laundering generally requires that you knew the funds came from unlawful activity and handled them to conceal or promote it. Without proof of that knowledge, the charge fails. Handling money is not a crime, knowingly laundering it is.
Structuring
Did You Intend to Evade Reporting?
Structuring is breaking up transactions to dodge reporting thresholds. The defense turns on intent: many people break up deposits for innocent reasons and without knowing the rules. Whether you acted to evade reporting is the real question.
What We Handle
Common Money Laundering & Structuring Charges
Federal and state allegations involving the movement and handling of funds. We defend the full range.
Money laundering
Structuring deposits
Concealment money laundering
Transactional money laundering
Currency reporting violations
Conspiracy to launder funds
Cash business allegations
Asset forfeiture exposure
What's at Stake
Heavy Penalties and Your Assets
These charges carry serious prison exposure, and they often come with an effort to seize your money and property.
Federal
Often a serious federal prosecution
Prison
Substantial incarceration on conviction
Forfeiture
Efforts to seize funds and property
Stacked
Often charged with an underlying offense
How We Defend a Money Laundering or Structuring Charge
The government's weak point is your state of mind. We attack knowledge, intent, and the source-of-funds theory.
We Attack Knowledge
Money laundering needs proof you knew the funds were unlawful. We press on whether that knowledge can actually be shown.
We Challenge Intent
Structuring requires an intent to evade reporting. Innocent reasons for handling cash the way you did cut against it.
We Dispute the Source
If the underlying funds were not actually proceeds of crime, a laundering theory built on them collapses.
We Fight the Forfeiture
Seizure of your assets is its own battle. We work to protect legitimate funds and property from forfeiture.
Common Questions
Money Laundering & Structuring, Answered
I didn't know the money came from anything illegal. Is that a defense?
Yes. Money laundering generally requires that you knew the funds were the proceeds of unlawful activity. If you did not know, that element fails. Handling or moving money is not itself a crime, the government has to prove you knew it was dirty and acted to conceal or promote it. That knowledge is often where these cases are weakest.
I broke up my deposits, but not to hide anything. Is that structuring?
Not necessarily. Structuring requires an intent to evade reporting requirements. People split up deposits for many innocent reasons, convenience, business practice, not knowing the rules, and without that intent to evade, the conduct may not be a crime. What you intended, not just the pattern, is what the government has to prove.
I run a cash business. Why am I being investigated?
Cash-heavy businesses draw scrutiny because their deposit patterns can resemble structuring or laundering even when everything is legitimate. That overlap is exactly why these cases are defensible: an innocent explanation for the cash and the deposits often fits the facts at least as well as the government's theory. We build that explanation out fully.
Can the government take my money before I'm even convicted?
Forfeiture can move quickly and sometimes before conviction, which is one of the most alarming parts of these cases. It is a separate fight from the criminal charge, and legitimate funds and property can be protected. We address the forfeiture alongside the defense, because waiting can put your assets at greater risk.
Why is this charged on top of another offense?
Money laundering often rides on an underlying crime that supposedly generated the funds. That linkage cuts both ways: if the underlying offense is weak or the funds were not actually criminal proceeds, the laundering count built on it can fall too. We fight both, rather than treating the laundering charge in isolation.
Facing a Laundering or Structuring Case? What You Knew Is the Whole Fight.
These charges turn on knowledge and intent, and your assets may be at risk too. Tell us what's happening and get an honest read on your defense. The first conversation is free and confidential.
Accounts frozen or agents at your door? Call our 24/7 line: 240-687-0179
The Law Offices of Haskell & Dyer, LLC Practicing Law in Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, St. Mary’s, and Prince George’s Counties.
The Law Offices of Haskell & Dyer, LLC Practicing Law in Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, St. Mary’s, and Prince George’s Counties.
The Law Offices of Haskell & Dyer, LLC
Fax: 301-627-5848
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