If the police or FBI had only enough time to record a fraction of the bills' serial numbers,don't you think they probably got the numbers from the top bill in each bundle?..So burn the first bill in each bundle and keep the rest.
shareThat list of serial numbers is only good in US and cooperating countries. They could have tried to flee the country with the money of course. I bet they could have offloaded it in Mexico, but then again, it's all very risky, like even if they don't get caught crossing the border with it they could be killed for it by Mexican gangs.
This one ain't over 'til the
Fat lady dies
Only 10% of the bills were marked.
Think about it, you spend $2,000 statistically 2 bills would turn up.
Unless you are spending large sums of cash in a short period of time I'd find it almost impossible to trace this back to them. Think how many times a bill would exchange hands before the serial number was actually read. If you went to Vegas where it's common for people to spend $100, there's no way they could trace who actually spent the money.
I'd just go on a couple road trips a year to Vegas. Buy fuel with the $100, keep the clean money, hit a bunch of casinos, get $200 In chips, play a few hands of blackjack, cash out and move on.
I'd think it would be impossible to track who spent the money.