October 11, 2016
A car dealer specializing in used luxury vehicles pleaded guilty to money laundering in federal court Tuesday for cooking the books on a sale to a drug dealer.
The dealer, who paid Wael Hashem $25,000 for a 2007 Mercedes Benz on Aug. 13, really was an undercover IRS agent who told Hashem the money came from selling drugs.
Hashem agreed to falsify the sales contract to show that the buyer put $5,000 down on a $12,995 sale price and Hashem financed the rest at his Luxury Auto Sales, 4880 Sinclair Road. He knew someone paying $25,000 cash would look suspicious, investigators said.