San Ysidro Bank Manager Caught in U.S. Drug Net

The manager of the Bank of Coronado’s branch here has been arrested and charged with violating cash transaction disclosure laws. The arrest is part of an ongoing federal investigation into possible laundering of narcotics money.

Guadalupe M. (Cha Cha) Alcantar, the branch manager and an assistant vice president of the Bank of Coronado, was arrested by federal agents Friday at the bank, 340 W. San Ysidro Blvd.

Alcantar was charged with knowingly and willfully failing to file cash transaction reports, a misdemeanor, and with filing false cash transaction reports with federal authorities, a felony. She was released after paying a $1,000 cash deposit on her bond, which had been set at $50,000.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled Thursday. Neither Alcantar nor her attorney, Jerry Caughlin, would comment on the case.

Federal law enforcement sources said Tuesday that the Bank of Coronado is not officially under investigation for the alleged laundering activity.

The investigation into the bank’s San Ysidro branch began in mid-1983 and has involved agents from the U.S. Customs Service, the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

An affidavit supporting the complaint and written by a federal agent revealed that agents still are investigating “several specific accounts maintained within” the bank.

Most of the bank’s deposits--more than 85%, according to one industry source--are from Mexican customers, and the bank’s services to non-residents of the United States are a priority, according to the bank’s annual report. The bank’s San Ysidro office was opened two years ago and boasted more than $20 million in assets as of year-end 1984.

According to the affidavit, federal undercover agents first approached Alcantar in March, 1984, with a concocted story that they wanted to open an account where “large amounts of currency could be deposited” but that they didn’t want to file the government paper work usually required in such transactions.

Under federal law, a bank must file Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs) with the U.S. Department of the Treasury that identify the owner of cash deposits in excess of $10,000.

Although Alcantar told the undercover agents that the bank could be closed if it failed to file the forms, she also allegedly suggested that the money could be put in an account belonging to “someone who doesn’t have to pay taxes,” according to the affidavit written by Customs special agent Steven J. Trent.

At another point in the discussion, after the agents asked if they could open an account in someone else’s name and deposit money, Alcantar is quoted as saying, “We don’t care who’s the real owner (of the account), I mean as long as we have our records straight.”

The meetings were electronically monitored by federal agents, Trent’s statement said.

Over the course of more than three months, the undercover agents deposited about $345,000 and withdrew $208,000 from the accounts, according to the affidavit.

Alcantar, according to the affidavit, either did not file any CTRs or filed false CTRs by failing to identify the person who deposited and withdrew the funds from the account.

Trent’s affidavit offers no motive for Alcantar to commit the alleged violations. Authorities would not discuss her involvement.

“The affidavit speaks for itself . . . we aren’t in a position to disclose the (substantive) information,” said U.S. Atty. Peter K. Nunez.

Much of the government’s investigation--including the drug connections--could be revealed at Alcantar’s preliminary hearing if prosecutors unseal the criminal complaint against her, according to one source familiar with the case.

Bank officials were not aware of the alleged crimes until they were contacted by federal agents Friday, according to James G. Klingensmith, president and chief executive officer of Crown Bancorp, the holding company for the Bank of Coronado. The bank is Crown’s largest subsidiary. At that time, “we agreed to cooperate in every way possible,” Klingensmith said Tuesday.

Alcantar is on a leave of absence from the bank “until we find out what is going to happen,” according to one bank official.

One other bank employee, operations officer Carlos Lopez-Mondaca, was mentioned in the affidavit for leaving a portion of a government-required transaction document blank after taking a cash deposit and giving a cash withdrawal to the agents. He is still working at the bank and the government has taken no action against him.

The ongoing federal investigation of money laundering and illegal drugs could be financially harmful to all area banks that cater to Mexican customers. At least two other area banks reportedly are being investigated by federal tax and customs agents.

“Once the Mexicans find out there is an investigation, they will get nervous,” said one banking industry executive.

Laundering funds is a hot topic in the banking industry, since revelations that the First National Bank of Boston failed to report $1.2 billion in cash transactions with foreign banks. The bank pleaded guilty in February to failure to report the transactions and paid a $500,000 fine.

Last week, the same bank notified federal officials that it had failed to report an additional $110 million worth of cash transactions with banks in Canada and Haiti.