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Money laundering refers to knowingly conducting a financial transaction using the proceeds from illegal activity in order to promote the illegal activity or to conceal the illegal source of the money. If you are convicted of this crime, you could be sentenced to up to 20 years in federal prison and/or be fined up to $500,000 or twice the amount laundered (whichever is greater).
The other type of federal money laundering is knowingly engaging in or attempting to engage in a transaction of more than $10,000 using money that is criminal proceeds. This is punishable with a fine, a sentence up to 10 years in prison, or both.
The prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant conducted or attempted to conduct one or more financial transactions involving at least one monetary instrument through at least one financial institution.
If only one transaction is involved, the financial transaction must have involved a monetary instrument(s) with a total value that exceeds $5,000. If there are multiple transactions involved, the prosecutor must prove that the defendant conducted or attempted to conduct the financial transactions within a seven-day period and the monetary instrument(s) involved had a total value of more than $5,000.
Alternatively, the prosecutor must prove that the defendant conducted or attempted to conduct the financial transactions within a 30-day period and the monetary instrument(s) involved had a total value of more than $25,000. If the defendant was aware of what he/she was doing, the prosecutor must prove that the defendant intended to promote, manage, establish, carry on, or facilitate criminal activity or that the defendant knew that the monetary instrument[s] represented the proceeds of criminal activity or was derived directly or indirectly from the proceeds of criminal activity.
Money laundering charges can be very difficult to prove. If you are charged with this offense, you may be able to beat the charges if you lacked either criminal intent or the knowledge that you were laundering the proceeds of criminal activity. Likewise, if the amount of money you dealt with did not meet the minimum threshold for a money laundering conviction, you cannot be convicted.
Police often use sophisticated undercover operations to effect money laundering arrests. These operations sometimes lead to instances of police misconduct such as warrantless searches made or searches without probable cause. If this occurs, I invite you to meet with our attorneys. We can file a motion to suppress evidence that was obtained through an illegal search in violation of your Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
