MONEY-LAUNDERING FIGHT SEEKS TEETH

TAMPA - But some business owners are troubled by talk of new financial
reporting requirements.

Florida is re-emerging as the nation's center for money laundering, and law
enforcement agencies say they are struggling to cope.

State agencies represented at a meeting of a money-laundering task force
Tuesday said they need more money and business regulations to shore up
enforcement.

After being beaten back by years of successful drug fighting, Colombian
drug cartels are again targeting Florida, authorities say. Cocaine
traffickers in Florida now earn about $5.4 billion a year, the task force
estimates.

While the flow of illegal drugs into Florida is increasing, federal money
to combat the problem has decreased, task force members said. Most money
now goes to enforcement efforts along the country's southwestern border.

The drug flow into the state has intensified money laundering through
legitimate businesses and banks, bogus corporations and the Internet.

Drug traffickers have even engaged in health insurance fraud, moving cash
through bogus health companies in Florida that use fictitious bank accounts
and billings. A spokesman for the state Department of Insurance said this
month that the agency is ``overwhelmed'' by such fraud.

Tom Hunker, who heads a South Florida anticrime task force, said money
launderers are fanning out to areas, including Tampa and Orlando, as
crackdown efforts succeed in cities like Miami.

State agencies recommend a range of moves, including tougher reporting
requirements for any business that ``transmits'' cash and a new law
allowing authorities to freeze bank accounts suspected of being used by
money launderers.

Other proposals are to create a statewide database on suspected money
laundering and to require fingerprints of anyone opening a bank account.

Some lawmakers and business people voiced concerns.

The proposals evoke a ``police state type feeling,'' said Tampa businessman
David Hurley. ``It scares me.''

Hurley is president of Tampa-based Landmark Engineering and Surveying Corp.
and state chairman of the National Federation of Independent Business.
Hurley said small businesses could be unfairly burdened if bank accounts
can be frozen.

Sen. Tom Rossin, D-West Palm Beach, said he worries about committing
additional tax money to fight the laundering problem when state and federal
authorities have little to show for their efforts.

Legislators will review the recommendations during the next couple of weeks.