St. Louis Woman Sentenced For Structuring Financial Transactions

A St. Louis woman, who pled guilty to Structuring Financial Transactions, was sentenced to probation for a period of two years and fined $20,000 on March 4, 2016, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, James L. Porter, announced today.

Kyong Suk Kipilla, 58, of St. Louis, Missouri, received a sentence of two years’ probation and a $20,000 fine for Structuring Financial Transactions. The judge ordered Kipilla to serve the first six months of probation confined to her home, monitored by an ankle bracelet. The charges arose from Kipilla’s deposits of proceeds from her prostitution business, the Pink Spa, located in Centreville, Illinois. Federal law requires financial institutions to report currency transactions (such as currency deposits) greater than $10,000 to the IRS. Federal law also prohibits a person from structuring currency transactions for the purpose of evading this reporting requirement. Kipilla engaged in structuring bank deposits in amounts less than $10,000 so as to avoid the reporting requirements. Kipilla was also ordered to pay a $200 special assessment. Kipilla pleaded guilty to the charges on September 3, 2015.

Kipilla is a citizen of South Korea who is present in the United States as a lawful permanent resident.

The case was investigated by members of the Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen B. Clark.