SECTIONS 14160-14167 - California Statutes

PENAL CODE

SECTION 14160-14167

14160. (a) It is the purpose of this title to require certain
reports or records of transactions involving monetary instruments as
defined herein where those reports or records have a high degree of
usefulness in criminal investigations or proceedings.
(b) The Attorney General shall adopt rules and regulations for the
administration and enforcement of this title.
(c) It is the intent of the Legislature that the rules and
regulations prescribed by the Attorney General for the administration
and enforcement of this title shall be designed to minimize the cost
and difficulty of compliance and shall, to the greatest extent
possible, result in report and record-keeping forms consistent with
those in use for compliance with Sections 5311 et seq. of Title 31 of
the United States Code, Section 6050 I of Title 26 of the United
States Code, and regulations adopted thereunder.
(d) Nothing in this title shall be construed to give rise to a
private cause of action for relief or damages.

14161. As used in this title:
(a) "Financial institution" means, when located or doing business
in this state, any national bank or banking association, state bank
or banking association, commercial bank or trust company organized
under the laws of the United States or any state, any private bank,
industrial savings bank, savings bank or thrift institution, savings
and loan association, or building and loan association organized
under the laws of the United States or any state, any insured
institution as defined in Section 401 of the National Housing Act,
any credit union organized under the laws of the United States or any
state, any national banking association or corporation acting under
Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 601) of Title 12 of the United
States Code, any foreign bank, any currency dealer or exchange, any
person or business engaged primarily in the cashing of checks, any
person or business who regularly engages in the issuing, selling, or
redeeming of traveler's checks, money orders, or similar instruments,
any broker or dealer in securities registered or required to be
registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, any licensed sender of money, any
investment banker or investment company, any insurance company, any
dealer in coins, precious metals, stones, or jewelry, any pawnbroker,
any telegraph company, any person or business engaged in controlled
gambling within the meaning of subdivision (e) of Section 19805 of
the Business and Professions Code, whether registered or licensed to
do so or not, and any person or business defined as a "bank,"
"financial agency," or "financial institution" by Section 5312 of
Title 31 of the United States Code or Section 103.11 of Title 31 of
the Code of Federal Regulations and any successor provisions thereto.
(b) "Transaction" includes the deposit, withdrawal, transfer,
bailment, loan, payment, or exchange of currency, or a monetary
instrument, as defined by subdivision (c), by, through, or to, a
financial institution, as defined by subdivision (a). "Transaction"
does not include the purchase of gold, silver, or platinum bullion or
coins, or diamonds, emeralds, rubies, or sapphires by a bona fide
dealer therein, and does not include the sale of gold, silver, or
platinum bullion or coins, or diamonds, emeralds, rubies, or
sapphires by a bona fide dealer therein in exchange for other than a
monetary instrument, and does not include the exchange of gold,
silver, or platinum bullion or coins, or diamonds, emeralds, rubies,
or sapphires by a bona fide dealer therein for gold, silver, or
platinum bullion or coins, or diamonds, emeralds, rubies, or
sapphires.
(c) "Monetary instrument" means United States currency and coin;
the currency and coin of any foreign country; and any instrument
defined as a "monetary instrument" by Section 5312 of Title 31 of the
United States Code or Section 103.11 of Title 31 of the Code of
Federal Regulations, or the successor of either. Notwithstanding any
other provision of this subdivision, "monetary instrument" does not
include bank checks, cashier's checks, traveler's checks, personal
checks, or money orders made payable to the order of a named party
that have not been endorsed or that bear restrictive endorsements.
(d) "Department" means the Department of Justice.
(e) "Criminal justice agency" means the Department of Justice and
any district attorney's office, sheriff's department, police
department, or city attorney's office of this state.
(f) "Currency" means United States currency or coin, the currency
or coin of any foreign country, and any legal tender or coin defined
as currency by Section 103.11 of Title 31 of the Code of Federal
Regulations or any succeeding provision.

14162. (a) A financial institution shall make and keep a record of
each transaction by, through, or to, the financial institution that
involves currency of more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000). A
financial institution shall file a report of the transaction with the
department in a form and at the time that the department, by
regulation, shall require. The filing with the department within the
time specified in its regulations of a duplicate copy of a report of
the transaction required by Section 6050I of Title 26 of the United
States Code, and any regulations adopted thereunder, shall satisfy
the reporting requirements of this subdivision. This subdivision does
not apply to a financial institution, as defined in Section 5312 of
Title 31 of the United States Code and Section 103.11 of Title 31 of
the Code of Federal Regulations and any successor provisions thereto.
(b) A financial institution, as defined in Section 5312 of Title
31 of the United States Code and Section 103.11 of Title 31 of the
Code of Federal Regulations and any successor provisions, shall file
with the department, at any time as the department by regulation
shall require, a duplicate copy of each report required by Sections
5313 and 5314 of Title 31 of the United States Code and by Sections
103.22 and 103.23 of Title 31 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and
any successor provisions thereto. The filing pursuant to this
subdivision shall satisfy all reporting and recordkeeping
requirements of this title.
(c) (1) A financial institution with actual knowledge of the
requirements of this section that knowingly and willfully fails to
comply with the requirements of this section shall be liable for a
civil penalty.
(2) The court may impose a civil penalty for each violation.
However, in the first civil proceeding against a financial
institution, the civil penalties for all violations shall not exceed
a total sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000). If a civil penalty was
imposed in a prior civil proceeding, the civil penalties for all
violations shall not exceed a total sum of twenty-five thousand
dollars ($25,000). If a civil penalty was imposed in two or more
prior civil proceedings, the civil penalties for all violations shall
not exceed a total sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000).
(3) A proceeding for a civil penalty under this subdivision may be
brought only by the Attorney General of California or the district
attorney for the county in which the violation is alleged to have
occurred. The proceeding shall be governed by the Code of Civil
Procedure.
(4) This subdivision shall not apply to any case where the
financial institution is criminally prosecuted in federal or state
court for conduct related to a violation of this section.

14163. Except as otherwise provided, a financial institution may
exempt from the reporting requirements of Section 14162 monetary
instrument transactions exempted from the reporting requirements of
Section 5313 of Title 31 of the United States Code. However, the
exemption shall be approved in writing and with the signature of two
or more officers of the financial institution and subject to review
and disapproval for reasonable cause by the department. An exemption
disapproved by the department in writing shall be effective to
require reporting pursuant to Section 14162 within five business days
of the time the disapproval is communicated to the financial
institution. The department may require, by regulation, the
maintenance, and may provide for the inspection, of records of
exemptions granted under this section.

14164. (a) A financial institution, or any officer, employee, or
agent thereof, that keeps and files a record in reliance on Section
14162, shall not be liable to its customer, to a state or local
agency, or to any person for any loss or damage caused in whole or in
part by the making, filing, or governmental use of the report, or
any information contained therein.
(b) This title does not preclude a financial institution, in its
discretion, from instituting contact with, and thereafter
communicating with and disclosing customer financial records to,
appropriate federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies when
the financial institution has reason to suspect that the records or
information demonstrate that the customer has violated any provision
of this title or Section 186.10.

14165. (a) The department shall analyze the reports required by
Section 14162 and shall report any possible violations indicated by
this analysis to the appropriate criminal justice agency.
(b) The department, in the discretion of the Attorney General, may
make a report or information contained in a report filed under
Section 14162 available to a district attorney or a deputy district
attorney in this state, upon request made by the district attorney or
his or her designee. The report or information shall be available
only for a purpose consistent with this title and subject to
regulations prescribed by the Attorney General, which shall require
the district attorney or his or her designee seeking the report or
information contained in the report to specify in writing the
specific reasons for believing that a provision of this title or
Section 186.10 has been violated.
(c) The department shall destroy a report filed with it under
Section 14162 at the end of the fifth calendar year after receipt of
the report, unless the report or information contained in the report
is known by the department to be the subject of an existing criminal
proceeding or investigation.

14166. Any person (a) who willfully violates any provision of this
title or any regulation adopted to implement Section 14162, (b) who,
knowingly and with the intent either (1) to disguise the fact that a
monetary instrument was derived from criminal activity or (2) to
promote, manage, establish, carry on, or facilitate the promotion,
management, establishment, or carrying on of any criminal activity,
furnishes or provides to a financial institution or any officer,
employee, or agent thereof or to the department, any false,
inaccurate, or incomplete information or conceals a material fact in
connection with a transaction for which a report is required to be
filed pursuant to either Section 14162 of this code or Section 5313
of Title 31 of the United States Code, or in connection with an
exemption prescribed in Section 14163, or (c) who, knowingly and with
the intent either (1) to disguise the fact that a monetary
instrument was derived from criminal activity or (2) to promote,
manage, establish, carry on, or facilitate the promotion, management,
establishment, or carrying on of any criminal activity, conducts a
monetary instrument transaction or series of transactions by or
through one or more financial institutions as part of a scheme and
with the intent to avoid the making or filing of a report required
under either Section 14162 of this code or Section 5313 of Title 31
of the United States Code, shall be punished by imprisonment in the
county jail for not more than one year or in the state prison, by a
fine of not more than the greater of two hundred fifty thousand
dollars ($250,000) or twice the monetary value of the financial
transaction or transactions, or by both that imprisonment and fine.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any violation of this
section as to each monetary instrument transaction or exemption
constitutes a separate, punishable offense.

14167. Any report, record, information, analysis, or request
obtained by the department or any agency pursuant to this title is
not a public record as defined in Section 6252 of the Government Code
and is not subject to disclosure under Section 6253 of the
Government Code.