AML CHALLENGES
INTERVIEW
The seizure of $4.1 million
Bill Bronsteen, HSI special agent
AT: Could you tell me about your role with the HSI EDTF and what your team
does?
at some point that they could go to a casino
and withdraw money to gamble. The casino
would look at the customer’s bank state-
ment and note that they did have $10,000
available, so they would give the $10,000 to
the customer. This process was repeated
up to a million dollars and it was not until
Monday that the bank’s realized that the
checks were counterfeit. And this was to
the tune of $18 million.
AT: So how long was this fraud going
on for?
RH: This fraud had been going on for so
long that the individuals we arrested admit-
ted that they had inherited this scheme
from a previous generation who had retired
and handed over their skillset to the next
generation.
Bill Bronsteen: I am part of the undercover operations. This means we have informants in
South America who work with money brokers. The money brokers set up meetings with
drug dealers and money launderers for our undercover agents. Our undercovers are then put
in contact with these money launderers. We pose as money launderers and conduct what is
called ‘money pickups’ to further the investigation. The drug traffickers who launder their
money are usually Colombians and Mexicans; however, the game has shifted in the last
decade to Dominicans in Queens and a little bit of Mexicans in the Bronx and it has gone
from cocaine to heroin. Although the players and drugs have changed, what hasn’t changed
is that the money is still going to Colombia and Mexico. Also, heroin has three times the
street value that cocaine does; therefore, if criminals are going to risk their lives they are
going to do it for heroin, where they can make three times the profit. The sad part is that 90
percent of heroin users were opiate users to begin with, but they have shifted over to heroin
because it is easier to get and cheaper. This is a huge change from when I started my career.
AT: Your team arrested the detainees from last night that I visited earlier today
with Erik at the HSI EDTF hotel, could you tell me what happened?
BB: The detainees from last night were arrested for narcotics and conspiracy; however, we
do know that one of them laundered money, but at this time, we are not charging him with
that until we wrap up the case and then we can re-arrest them all on the money laundering
charge.
AT: How did you get a break in this
case or what led to the arrest of these
individuals?
RH: It was a piece of luck. It was a vehicle
stop by the NYPD in Queens. The individual
was stopped for a driving infraction, but the
police officer noticed that they had quite a
bit of checks and ID’s in the car. This is an
offense in the city of New York. The detec-
tive that went by had just spoken to some-
one in the EDTF about this and he was
wondering if this was related to the discus-
sion he had with someone in our office. The
detective called up the bank investigator
that was handling the case and the bank
investigator put us in touch with him.
The individual was brought to the EDTF
and we noticed that he had a key to a stor-
age locker. We sent a couple of investiga-
tors to watch the locker. It turned out that
one of the calls the detainee made, which
was in his native tongue, was something to
the effect of “go empty the locker.” The
locker was a treasure trove of documents
that was needed for a conviction.
Karla Monterrosa-Yancey, ACAMS Today editor-in-chief and
Bill Bronsteen, HSI EDTF special agent
ACAMS TODAY | SEPTEMBER–NOVEMBER 2017 | ACAMS.ORG | ACAMSTODAY.ORG
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