Taking steps to conceal the origin of illegally obtained money is called money laundering. Money laundering is illegal under federal law, with numerous federal statutes that prohibit money laundering and related offenses. Anyone convicted of these offenses could be sentenced to a lengthy prison term and may face other serious penalties. When a person is under investigation or has been charged with money laundering, they should strongly consider speaking with a DC federal money laundering lawyer to learn the options available to fight these serious charges.
The federal prosecutor who brings the charges has the burden of proving every element of a money laundering offense beyond a reasonable doubt. This means the government must show:
Your attorney can help you to find ways to introduce doubt about any one of these elements of the crime, depending on the particular facts and circumstances of your case. It is the government’s burden to prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge will instruct the jury that any reasonable doubt regarding your guilt or innocence, based on the evidence, should be resolved in your favor.
Federal Money Laundering Statutes
A DC federal money laundering lawyer could also help you to raise other defenses such as entrapment or an illegal search, depending on the specific facts present in your particular case and can also assist you in negotiating a plea bargain to a lesser offense, if this option is in your best interest. With such serious penalties associated with a conviction for money laundering, it is a smart choice to contact an experienced and capable criminal defense attorney for help as soon as you are under investigation or charged with federal laundering money.
Money laundering is being charged in an increasing number of cases. For example, in the healthcare fraud arena where the government alleges that someone was engaging in healthcare fraud, such as Medicaid fraud. Money laundering may be charged in government contracting fraud cases where someone is alleged to have concealed an alleged, ill-gotten gain by purchasing a home or other items. Another example of money laundering is when a person is alleged to have engaged in illegal activity, and then took the money and simply paid rent and utility bills or put it in a bank account.
Working with a qualified and experienced federal criminal defense attorney who knows the federal court system where the case will be heard is a good way to help protect oneself from the very beginning.If you have been charged with money laundering, this means that law enforcement officials believe that you have attempted to conceal the origins of money that was illegally obtained. Money laundering is a federal crime, and while it is often associated with drug charges, it may also be a factor in cases involving corporate fraud, computer crimes, white collar crimes, and illegal gambling.
Los Angeles Federal Money Laundering Defense Attorney
When federal prosecutors pursue a money laundering charge, they work closely with federal law enforcement agencies and use all of the laws at their disposal, including the Money Laundering Control Act, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, and the Bank Secrecy Act. In recent years, the Patriot Act and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act have even allowed prosecutors to connect money laundering to terrorism, giving them carte blanche to zealously pursue convictions.
When you are facing money laundering charges, they often come alongside a number of other criminal charges, and your property may be subject to asset forfeiture. In these cases, you need an experienced criminal defense attorney on your side who can protect your rights and vigorously defend you in court.
Attorney Stephen M. Komie has over 40 years of experience defending clients in criminal cases, and he understands the approach that federal prosecutors will take when pursuing a conviction for money laundering and any related criminal charges. The attorneys of Komie and Associates will thoroughly investigate your case, and we will use every appropriate defense, such as:
Are Lawyers Facilitating Money Laundering?
If you have been charged with money laundering, you should contact the offices of Komie and Associates as soon as possible. Our attorneys will thoroughly investigate your situation, follow the paper trail, examine the evidence, and prepare the best possible defense. Contact an Illinois criminal defense lawyer today at 312-263-2800 to schedule a free consultation. We serve clients in Chicago, Springfield, Peoria, Bloomington, and throughout Illinois and the United States.broadcast an undercover investigation which showed law firms providing questionable, and perhaps even borderline illegal, advice on how to evade anti-money laundering (AML) and corruption laws. But unlike the Panama Papers, which involved a law firm in a jurisdiction renowned for secretive offshore financial transactions, this exposé involved lawyers in the United States, and even the then-president of the American Bar Association (ABA), commenting on the use of US legal structures and bank accounts to launder money through the United States. Even though this program aired one year ago, the topic remains highly relevant in today’s climate.
The investigation, conducted undercover by a firm called Global Witness, was centered around a man posing as an adviser to a foreign government minister who asked 16 lawyers at US law firms how to anonymously move large sums of money in a way that would set off alarms and raise suspicion of corruption.
In their counseling of this so-called advisor, some lawyers that were approached suggested using anonymous companies to hide the minister’s beneficial ownership status. Others suggested funneling the money through their firms’ own bank accounts or using an offshore trust with an attorney acting as trustee in order to anonymize the source of the funds.
He's A Thug. He's Just Got A Law Degree': Texas Attorney Admits Conspiring To Launder Drug Money
While such actions might immediately be interpreted as violations of relevant money laundering-related crimes if conducted by a bank, the lawyers’ actions have been defended by the American Bar Association as within the lawyer’s right to counsel, and it is unlikely that any State bar or prosecutor will find reason to penalize the lawyers or bring charges. In fact, as of this date, we know of no such penalties or charges.
It should come as no surprise that some lawyers have found ways to profit from the grey areas of the law when it comes to AML and corruption. As one of the investigation’s targets stated, “We make the laws, and when we do so, we make them in the way that’s advantageous to the lawyers.” But once satisfaction of being on the side with power wanes, let’s put into perspective what is at stake for the legal profession in these actions
Money laundering has real consequences. These funds can be transferred to terrorist organizations or sanctioned countries. The process helps fund the US cocaine trade and the Indian heroin trade. Laundering helps finance dictators, such as the brutal Haitian dictator “Baby Doc” Duvalier, who lived off the millions he looted from Haiti’s treasury while in exile. It took 12 years for the Swiss to return public funds President Marcos siphoned from the Philippines’ international financial aid, Japanese war indemnity payments and state monopolies. Smugglers are better able to fund their dangerous activities when they are able to wire drug money back into bank accounts of their home countries. Human trafficking gangs launder money through “money services businesses to pay off transporters, prepaid cards to move funds across borders, and individual bank accounts to funnel profits back to gang leaders.”
Money Laundering Image
At this time, global spending on AML compliance, including the cost of compliance officers and monitoring systems, is set to grow to more than $8 billion in 2017. Many banks spend multimillion-dollar sums to overhaul compliance systems after consent orders for failing to detect money laundering. Others have been more proactive early on, either recognizing the regulatory hammer about to fall or by acknowledging the consequences of their role. A few financial institutions have even gone above and beyond crafting strategies to analyze anti-money laundering typologies leading to the discovery of criminals involved in human trafficking.
For most of the legal community, the role lawyers play in fighting money laundering, corruption and terrorism, and how they might work to avoid facilitating these transactions, is less clear. In most jurisdictions, it is unlikely that law firms consider their obligation to detect money laundering to be equal to financial institutions.
In this series, I aim to explore the role of lawyers with respect to money laundering activities, and what we can do to make our roles clearer as our world works hard to fight financial crime. The rest of the articles can be found here:Money laundering is considered a “White Collar” crime that violates both State and Federal laws. Under Texas law, Money Laundering occurs when a person knowingly handles criminal money, supervises the transactions of criminal money, invests criminal money or invests “clean” money into a criminal enterprise. (A common example is when a person uses a legitimate business to “wash” their money to conceal its illegal source.) If you or someone you love are facing accusations or charges, reach out to an accomplished Houston Money Laundering Attorney today. It could mean all the difference in your case.
Nevada Money Laundering Lawyer: Charge, Penalties, Defense
Criminal money is money that knowingly comes from criminal activity that is a Felony offense, or an offense punishable by
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