Bankers in Oklahoma have the Force on their side.
The Financial Task Force, an investigative group run by the U.S. Attorney's office in Oklahoma City, helps bankers handle suspicious transactions.
The task force gathers information provided by banks under the Bank Secrecy Act to help state, federal, and local law enforcement officials uncover illegal activities.
And through cooperation with the Oklahoma Bankers Association, the group has helped banks comply with the transaction reporting rules.
Among the participating federal agencies are the Internal Revenue Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Using leads from individual bankers and information from public data bases as well as suspicious activity and currency transaction forms, the task force has helped the agencies uncover millions of dollars in ill- gotten cash and property.
"We do things a little differently," said Paul Elledge, special agent in the IRS's criminal division and head of the Financial Task Force. "We find the money, then work backward to the crime."
Mr. Elledge said law enforcement agencies in California and South Carolina have similar arrangements with their state banking groups.
Tellers and compliance officers in Oklahoma often call the task force to ask how to handle a suspicious-looking person or transaction at their bank.
Mr. Elledge said the government can't ask for more than the person's name, the identification they provided the bank, and "the general nature of what's going on."
IRS special agent George Fields, also a task force member, said bankers are told how much information they can provide about suspicious customers and still be in compliance with confidentiality rules.
"It protects the banks," Mr. Fields said.
If a scan of the government's data base of public information then causes further questions about the person, the task force may subpoena copies of the transaction reports.
Mary Beth Guard, general counsel for the Oklahoma Bankers Association, said calls from nervous bankers prompted her group to begin discussions with the task force. She credited Mr. Elledge for cultivating the relationship, and making it a friendly one.
"We were very fortunate in the beginning that the people with the task force realized that taking an adversarial stance with the banks doesn't get you anywhere," Ms. Guard said. "Some agencies will say, 'You are going to give us these records.' That generally doesn't happen with us."
These requests for information lead to discovering major criminal organizations or scams about 15% of the time, Mr. Fields said. Among the findings: a man who had embezzled $350,000 from his blind grandmother's life savings; an airplane bought with drug proceeds, and $10 million dollars in cash and property belonging to a major cocaine distributor.
