TSA Detains Man for Carrying $4,700 of cash

[cinyc]

I have to agree with the TSA that carrying more than $500 or so in cash is definitely suspicious. Usually a sign of drug trafficking or other illegal smuggling (but most smuggling is in the drug trade), or possibly counterfeiting (although that's unusual).

Nonsense.  Carrying a large amount of cash is a sign of nothing other than carrying a large amount of cash.  And $500 is peanuts if you're going somewhere where credit and debit cards aren't in much use.

It's not against the law to carry as much cash as you want (except that you need to declare if you're bringing more than $10,000 in cash in or out of the country).

The federal civil asset forfeiture laws were amended in 2000 because they were being abused by law enforcement, and the federal circuit courts have been clawing back on the circumstances under which just carrying cash is probable cause for anything else.

[cinyc]

Admittedly, travel internationally would mean carrying more cash is reasonable. Without the circumstances of this particular case, we don't know. But, really, carrying more than $500 traveling domestically? That's paranoid, or, more likely, the result of criminal activity.

Again, nonsense. 

It could be a sign of selling a bunch of books at a conference (which is exactly what it was here) - a legitimate business activity.  It could be a sign of bringing extra cash so as not to incur needless out-of-network ATM fees when trying to get cash in another state.  It could be a sign of a rich person giving a large cash wedding present to a well-to-do-couple or Christmas gifts to his family and friends.  It could be a sign of someone who doesn't have a bank account (believe it or not, those people do exist, and not always because they're paranoid and don't trust banks) and doesn't want to leave cash from their last paycheck sitting unattended at home where it could be stolen.  It could be a sign of someone bringing a security deposit on an out-of-state apartment to a rental company that won't take out-of-state checks.  It could be a sign of someone who just likes to carry around a lot of cash or doesn't have a debit or credit card and needs to carry a lot of cash when away from home - particularly among older people.

There are plenty of legitimate reasons to carry a lot of cash.  And $500 isn't a ton of money these days, anyway.

[cinyc]

Actually you're not allowed to carry more then 9,999$ on your person. If you get caught your money will be confiscated and you will have to prove that every one of those dollars you obtained in a legitimate manner. I know someone who's uncle was interrogated for coming into a bank with 25k he saved on his own (an older man) and he had to prove he had saved that money from his paychecks.

Please provide a link to this law.  It doesn't exist.  A bank needs to report a cash deposit over $10,000, but it's certainly not illegal to carry over $10,000 in cash.

The federal civil asset forfeiture laws have been amended to prevent abuse.  Merely carrying cash means nothing.

[cinyc]

Go ahead and get pulled over by a police officer and let him find out you have that much cash on you and see what happens. Ever heard of asset forfeiture?

I've heard of unscrupulous police officers misusing the civil asset forfeiture laws over much lesser amounts.  So what?  That a police officer misuses the civil asset forfeiture laws doesn't make it legally correct.  It's not a crime to carry any amount of cash within the U.S.  Period.

[cinyc]

Here is the law:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_Transaction_Report

I had a problem with a cashier check above the $10K limit drawn on one bank clearing another bank.

That law doesn't make it illegal to carry more than $10,000 in cash.  It just puts a reporting requirement on banks and the likes to report when a customer deposits, withdraws, or in some cases, pays for something with more than $10,000 in cash.  That's a huge difference.