Criminal Mindset: How Fraudsters Structure Their Financial Footprints

Fraudsters don’t just hide the money—they design an entire financial architecture to avoid detection. Through layering, commingling, and time-based tactics, bad actors create financial movements that appear ordinary on the surface but are engineered to frustrate investigators.

In this installment of The Evidence Ledger, David Tyree, former DEA agent and current Senior Advisor at Valid8, shares what law enforcement needs to understand about criminal money movement, how traditional approaches fall short, and why tools like Valid8 are helping investigators find the truth faster.

Q: What do most people misunderstand about how criminals think about money?

David Tyree: From my time undercover in criminal organizations, one thing became clear: it’s all about the money. Criminals are not just greedy—they work hard to stay ahead of law enforcement. Whether it's someone paying rent or accumulating assets, the motivation is always financial. And they’re strategic. They structure operations specifically to frustrate investigators.

I worked a case where a trafficker bought workers' checks at construction sites so his account only showed check deposits—no cash. It looked legitimate, but it was all drug money. That’s the kind of layered planning they use to obscure the truth.

Q: Can you walk us through what layering looks like in practice?

Tyree: There are three phases of laundering: placement, layering, and integration. Layering is where it gets messy. Criminals move funds across multiple accounts or institutions, sometimes using cryptocurrencies or prepaid cards to confuse the trail. I've seen money laundered through Amazon refunds, blockchain wallets, and even fake wholesale food companies. The goal is to move the funds enough times that the origin becomes nearly impossible to trace.

Q: What made these schemes so difficult to investigate using manual methods?

Tyree: The sheer volume of transactions and the time it took to piece everything together. In the construction check case, we had to manually trace each check purchase, then follow those funds through multiple accounts. What should have been a straightforward money trail turned into months of painstaking work. By the time we had the full picture, the operation had evolved and moved on.

Q: What are the limitations of manual investigation methods in tracking these movements?

Tyree: It’s brutal. You issue subpoenas, wait weeks or months, get back hundreds of pages, then realize you need to go back for more. I used Excel just to stay sane. Without the right tools, the case builds on itself—every discovery requires more subpoenas and more data to process. Sometimes I'd get analysis back nine months later and forget what the case was even about. We can’t afford that kind of delay.

“The Valid8 platform doesn’t make the case—it just tells the story of the money movement. And that’s what good investigators need: a defensible, accurate narrative that holds up in court.”

David Tyree

Retired DEA Agent and Financial Crimes Expert

This distinction is crucial in law enforcement. We're not looking for tools that draw conclusions for us—we need platforms that organize the evidence so we can make informed decisions and present clear, factual narratives to prosecutors and juries.

Q: How does Valid8 make a difference?

Tyree: Valid8 processes financial records fast—days, not months. It highlights missing statements, duplicate entries, and flags inconsistencies visually. What used to require color-coded spreadsheets and manual cross-referencing now happens automatically. The platform shows you exactly where the gaps are—maybe a missing page from a bank statement or a duplicate transaction that suggests manipulation. I can work with the team, click into issues, and know exactly what I need from the bank. That’s a game changer. It reduces the chance of missing something critical and arms you with clean, defensible evidence.

I’ve worked at a bank doing six-month AML reviews manually—clicking through screenshots for hours. That’s not scalable. Valid8 is.

Q: What are some common patterns investigators should look for, like commingling or timing tactics?

Tyree: Commingling is a big one—mixing clean and dirty funds. I’ve seen drug money laundered through restaurants, ice cream trucks, fake vendors… you name it. One guy ran a fake wholesale food company—he’d take restaurant checks funded with drug cash and mix in legitimate checks. When I raided that place, it was like a movie set. There were products on shelves with no prices, no working register, but millions in cash deposits flowing through the business accounts.

Time-based tactics are another. Think: multiple small deposits across banks after hours, then a fast withdrawal or asset purchase before anyone can flag it. These moves happen quickly and are meant to outpace the investigation.

Q: How does spotting duplicate checks or gaps in statements come into play?

Tyree: Those details matter in court. If you miss a page or fail to spot a duplicate, it opens the door for reasonable doubt. Valid8 color-codes these issues—I can see exactly what's missing or repeated. You don’t always need a new subpoena—just clarity. The tool makes it easy to see where you need to dig further in your investigation so that no one can challenge your evidence.

In one case, I thought I had everything. Valid8 flagged a missing page. Turns out it was a key withdrawal that tied two accounts together. Without it, the case would've had a gaping hole.

Q: Looking back at your Excel days versus using Valid8, what's the biggest difference for investigators?

Tyree: Speed and accuracy, but more importantly, confidence. With Excel, I was always second-guessing whether I'd missed something or made a calculation error. With Valid8, the platform does the heavy lifting on data organization and flags potential issues automatically. I can focus on the investigative work—following leads, building the case narrative, working with prosecutors—instead of drowning in spreadsheets.

Q: Why do financial investigations matter so much in fraud and drug cases?

Tyree: Because money doesn’t lie. People do. Drugs are easy to seize. But when it comes to cash or assets, you have to prove it's dirty. That means a clean chain of evidence and thorough analysis. Valid8 helps law enforcement own that story from the beginning, rather than tacking it on at the end when it’s too late.

For forensic accountants working these cases, remember that you're not just analyzing numbers—you're building a story that needs to hold up under cross-examination. The cleaner and more defensible your financial analysis, the stronger the case becomes.

Want to go deeper?

Whether you're analyzing commingled funds, checking for missing statements, or building a case that needs to stand up in court, Valid8 gives you the structure and speed to get there faster. Contact us to learn how Valid8 can support your investigations.