152
Blackmun, J., dissenting
reports for transportation of more than $10,000 into or out of the United States. In 1986, Congress added § 5324 to the subchapter to deter rampant evasion by customers of financial institutions' duty to report large cash transactions. See infra, at 162, and n. 13. The new section provides: "No person shall for the purpose of evading the reporting requirements of section 5313(a) . . . (3) structure . . . any transaction with one or more domestic financial institutions."
Unlike other provisions of the subchapter, the antistruc-turing provision identifies the purpose that is required for a § 5324 violation: "evading the reporting requirements." The offense of structuring, therefore, requires (1) knowledge of a financial institution's reporting requirements, and (2) the structuring of a transaction for the purpose of evading those requirements. These elements define a violation that is "willful" as that term is commonly interpreted. The majority's additional requirement that an actor have actual knowledge that structuring is prohibited strays from the statutory text, as well as from our precedents interpreting criminal statutes generally and "willfulness" in particular.
The Court reasons that the interpretation of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and that of nine other Circuits,3 renders § 5322(a)'s willfulness requirement superfluous. See ante, at 140. This argument ignores the general-3 See United States v. Scanio, 900 F. 2d 485, 489-492 (CA2 1990); United States v. Shirk, 981 F. 2d 1382, 1389-1392 (CA3 1993); United States v. Rogers, 962 F. 2d 342, 343-345 (CA4 1992); United States v. Beaumont, 972 F. 2d 91, 93-95 (CA5 1992); United States v. Baydoun, 984 F. 2d 175, 180 (CA6 1993); United States v. Jackson, 983 F. 2d 757, 767 (CA7 1993); United States v. Gibbons, 968 F. 2d 639, 643-645 (CA8 1992); United States v. Dashney, 937 F. 2d 532, 537-540 (CA10), cert. denied, 502 U. S. 951 (1991); United States v. Brown, 954 F. 2d 1563, 1567-1569 (CA11), cert. denied, 506 U. S. 900 (1992).
The only Court of Appeals to adopt a contrary interpretation is the First Circuit, and even that court allows "reckless disregard" of one's legal duty to support a conviction for structuring. See United States v. Aversa, 984 F. 2d 493, 502 (1993) (en banc).
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