Originally Posted by
tentseller
Forfeiture is the standard as well as a charge of failing to declare taking >$10,000 in and out of the country. IRS is then notified and then they can get to work.
Departing TPAC with DL from DTW there is always CBP agents asking question in the jetway. The question seem to concentrate around amount of cash and negotiable instruments.
Flights to AMS are also rather frequent targets for this, from ORD and DTW at least.
If the woman had used 500EUR notes, stuffed them in her bra and been consistent in her deception/misleading of CBP, it's unlikely she would have been flagged down absent CBP being fed info by Treasury about the passenger and/or some companion.
If the funds were legitimately sourced -- and I don't know why they should be considered anything but such -- she got nailed on the basis of a legal requirement that is unknown to most persons in the country: the requirement to file paperwork on Fincen 105 when having currency and/or select financial instruments with a value of $10,000 US or more and taking it out of the country.