Boston Money Laundering Attorney

What is Money Laundering?

Money laundering is also considered a white collar crime. It is defined as the concealment of the origins, and/or use/transfer, of illegally obtained/derived money. In federal court transfer/concealment must involve interstate or foreign commerce and money laundering allegations often involve foreign banks and/or legitimate businesses. Use/concealment/transfer must be with intent to facilitate the criminal activity. (In federal Court, the criminal activity at the core of money laundering charges is call “Specified Unlawful Activity” or “SUA”).

The Money Laundering Process

Money laundering is the process of concealing the origins of illegally obtained money and making it appear legal, or “clean.” Typically, this process involves three steps: placement, layering and integration:

• First, the illegal funds are introduced into a legitimate financial system.
• Next, the money is moved around, whether it’s by transfer or wire, through several accounts.
• Finally, it is integrated into the financial system through transactions until the “dirty” money appears “clean.”

Money Laundering Penalties

As with other white collar crimes, the applicable sentencing exposure/range is driven by the monetary amounts involved; with sentences greatly enhanced in federal court for SUA(s) involving illegal narcotics activity. Money laundering indictments usually include tough forfeiture counts, too. Structuring financial transactions ( “smurfing”) and other bank reporting violations are often coupled with money largest charges.

What Is the Minimum Sentence for Money Laundering?

• Penalties for a first-time money laundering conviction include a prison sentence of up to 6 years, along with a fine of no more than $250,000 or twice the value of the money or property transacted, whichever is greater.
• A second offense carries a minimum prison sentence of 2 years, but no more than 8 years, and a fine of less than $500,000 or three times the value of the money or property transacted, whichever is greater.
• If the money laundering case goes to federal court, a conviction could carry up to 20 years of prison time.

Money Laundering Defense Strategies

An experienced Boston money laundering defense attorney builds a strong defense by doing a thorough investigation and examining records, locating possible witnesses and identifying redeeming physical or digital evidence. Money laundering cases are extremely complex, which coincidentally creates many ways in that they can be challenged.

A few of the most common money laundering defense strategies include:

• The source of the funds was not illegal
• The client did not have any knowledge that the money had an illegal source
• The money was not concealed

Often, the amount of money is disputed in these cases. If the government alleges that they can prove a certain amount of money was laundered, with the help of a forensic accountant, an attorney can attack the accountant’s opinion if it isn’t credible. For example, if the government claims that a few million dollars were laundered, but the number was actually in the tens of thousands, it can have a huge effect on the end result of the case.

If you are accused of money laundering, it is not a charge to take lightly. You will need an experienced Boston money laundering defense lawyer to defend your freedom, assets, bank accounts ad real and personal property. Brad Bailey, is an experienced money laundering defense attorney in Boston with over thirty years of experience in criminal law. He began his law career as an Assistant District Attorney in both Manhattan and Middlesex County, Massachusetts. After never losing a case as a federal prosecutor in Boston ( where a number of his prosecutions involved allegations of money laundering), he switched over to exclusively practicing as a high-profile defense lawyer, which he has been doing, exclusively, for the past 17 years, with unparalleled success.

Some of the notable money laundering cases Mr. Bailey, a “White Collar Crimes Super Lawyer” has defended include:

• United States v. Villegas-Zuluaga, a money laundering/conspiracy case
• United States v. Tina Le, et al, a wire fraud/money laundering case
• United States v. Ostrowski, a mail fraud/health care fraud/money laundering case
• United States v. Cimino et al, an alleged East Coast/west coast money laundering case, with purported underlying drug activity
• Commonwealth v. Betancourt, a trafficking and money laundering case

The best course of action to take when accused of this crime is to find the best attorney possible. You want to avoid any missteps in your defense strategy or not waste valuable time on a lawyer who needs to learn the difficult and intricate nuances of these complex laws; otherwise, you risk losing your financial property interests, as well as your freedom. To ensure the best defense possible, as well as experienced money laundering representation, don’t hesitate. Contact Brad Bailey NOW for a confidential phone consultation, today.

Laundering of Monetary Instruments

1. Whoever, knowing that the property involved in a financial transaction represents the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity, conducts or attempts to conduct such a financial transaction which in fact involves the proceeds of specified unlawful activity-
   (A)
   (i) with the intent to promote the carrying on of specified unlawful activity; or
   (ii) with intent to engage in conduct constituting a violation of section 7201 or 7206 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; or
   (B) knowing that the transaction is designed in whole or in part—
   (i) to conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership, or the control of the proceeds of specified unlawful activity; or
   (ii) to avoid a transaction reporting requirement under State or Federal law, shall be sentenced to a fine of not more than $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever is greater, or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both. For purposes of this paragraph, a financial transaction shall be considered to be one involving the proceeds of specified unlawful activity if it is part of a set of parallel or dependent transactions, any one of which involves the proceeds of specified unlawful activity, and all of which are part of a single plan or arrangement.
2. Whoever transports, transmits, or transfers, or attempts to transport, transmit, or transfer a monetary instrument or funds from a place in the United States to or through a place outside the United States or to a place in the United States from or through a place outside the United States-
   (A) with the intent to promote the carrying on of specified unlawful activity.
   (B) knowing that the monetary instrument or funds involved in the transportation, transmission, or transfer represent the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity and knowing that such transportation, transmission, or transfer is designed in whole or in part—
   (i) to conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership, or the control of the proceeds of specified unlawful activity; or
   (ii) to avoid a transaction reporting requirement under State or Federal law, shall be sentenced to a fine of not more than $500,000 or twice the value of the monetary instrument or funds involved in the transportation, transmission, or transfer, whichever is greater, or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both. For the purpose of the offense described in subparagraph (B), the defendant’s knowledge may be established by proof that a law enforcement officer represented the matter specified in subparagraph (B) as true, and the defendant’s subsequent statements or actions indicate that the defendant believed such representations to be true.
3. Whoever, with the intent—
   (A) to promote the carrying on of specified unlawful activity;
   (B) to conceal or disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, or control of property believed to be the proceeds of specified unlawful activity; or
   (C) to avoid a transaction reporting requirement under State or Federal law, conducts or attempts to conduct a financial transaction involving property represented to be the proceeds of specified unlawful activity, or property used to conduct or facilitate specified unlawful activity, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both. For purposes of this paragraph and paragraph (2), the term “represented” means any representation made by a law enforcement officer or by another person at the direction of, or with the approval of, a Federal official authorized to investigate or prosecute violations of this section.

Contact our office at (617) 500-0252 if you would like to discuss your charges with our Boston money laundering defense lawyers.