united-states tax-law finance banking illinois
My friend has alot of cash (about 55K in $100s) on hand and is afraid to put it in a bank. Should he be?
<p>My friend was paralyzed from an injury when he was a teenager (about 30 years ago now). He has amassed about 55K in cash from being a small time marijuana dealer. He literally keeps it next to him at all times. When he has to go to the hospital, he calls me to basically be his Brinks man and keep it safe.</p>
<p>He does other things such as collect precious metals. Sometimes he sells that to collectors so the stash isn't all &quot;illegal&quot; money. The state is Illinois and the recreational marijuana laws have been laxed.</p>
<p>Anyway, is there a liklihood of an audit if this goes into a bank? Is there another way such as slow deposits that wouldn't show up on a radar? How about a shell company? (Hey, I'm thinking of everything) And is there any reason for a concern if an audit came down? The man will be bed ridden for the rest of his life.</p>
<p>It would be nice to see this get into a Saving Account so the effects of inflation wouldn't be too harsh than just plain cash.</p>

<p><em>Most</em> of this is a request for legal advice, which is <a href="https://law.meta.stackexchange.com/q/221/32651">off-topic here</a>.  If you want advice on what your friend should do, you (or your friend) should hire a lawyer.</p>
<p>However, there is one general law question that can be addressed here:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Is there another way such as slow deposits that wouldn't show up on a radar?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>No.  Don't do that.  That (&quot;the breaking down of a single sum of currency exceeding $10,000 into smaller sums, including sums at or below $10,000, or conducting a transaction or series of currency transactions at or below $10,000&quot;) is called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structuring" rel="nofollow noreferrer">structuring</a>, and <a href="https://www.irs.gov/irm/part4/irm_04-026-013" rel="nofollow noreferrer">it's a federal crime</a>, even if the money was legally obtained.</p>
