Legal Question in Constitutional Law in New York

Re: Elliot Spitzer Case

No it is not unconstitutional. Banks are complying with a government requirement that they report unusual activity that appears as an attempt to circumvent the currency and wire transfer reporting requirements. The reporting requirement is an old law that was used to track attempts by criminals to launder money; meaning, moving money earned from criminal activities into the banking system. With the former governor, his activities were picked up through the monitoring of another entity's suspicious activities by the IRS.

Re: Elliot Spitzer Case

NO. Banks report under a required reporting statute. The government can look at those records and make a request to look at other records through the court. Then a warrant was added for phone and wire records.

A person has a right under the Fourth amendment to be free from unreasonable search and siezure in their home and of their person. Records maintained by others are not so protected. Hence the reason many people of wealth use accounts outside of the US in nations that are more conservative about making records available.