Title 11. Records And Reports Of Monetary Instrument Transactions of California Penal Code >> Title 11. >> Part 4.

(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.

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.

(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.

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.

(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.

(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.

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.

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.