Shelton Man Who Assisted Son with Structuring Cash Deposits is Sentenced

The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut announced that PETER C. BOTTI, 83, of Shelton, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Charles S. Haight, Jr. in New Haven to one year of probation for structuring currency transactions. BOTTI also was ordered to pay a fine in the amount of $3000.

Federal law requires all financial institutions to file a currency transaction report (CTR) for currency transactions that exceed $10,000. To evade the filing of a CTR, individuals will often structure their currency transactions so that no single transaction exceeds $10,000. Structuring involves the repeated depositing or withdrawal of amounts of cash less than the $10,000 limit, or the splitting of a cash transaction that exceeds $10,000 into smaller cash transactions in an effort to avoid the reporting requirements. Even if the deposited funds are derived from a legitimate means, financial transactions conducted in this manner are still in violation of federal criminal law.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from approximately June 2006 through November 2006, PETER BOTTI structured, and permitted his son, James Botti, to structure cash deposits totaling $97,800 into his accounts at two different financial institutions. After the funds were structured in amounts slightly below the $10,000 reporting requirement, PETER BOTTI caused the funds to be returned to James Botti.

On June 1, 2009, PETER BOTTI pleaded guilty to one count of structuring currency transactions.

According to evidence disclosed during two trials of James Botti, the structuring was part of an effort by James Botti to hide the existence of a large amount of his cash from the Internal Revenue Service and federal law enforcement authorities.

On September 17, 2010, James Botti was sentenced to 72 months of imprisonment and was ordered to pay a fine in the amount of $25,000. As a result of his conviction to currency structuring offenses, James Botti also was ordered to forfeit $120,500 to the government.

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Richard J. Schechter and Assistant United States Attorney Rahul Kale.

This article was sponsored by Police Leadership Books.