The Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) was enacted by Congress in 1970 to require insured depository institutions to maintain certain records and to report certain currency transactions, in an effort to prevent banks from being used to hide money derived from criminal activity and tax evasion.  These records and reports have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, and regulatory investigations and proceedings.  Since 1970, there have been many legislative and regulatory standards imposed to help prevent money laundering and to strengthen the government’s ability to combat money laundering and more recently, terrorist activity financing.