A federal judge today sentenced a Pelham man to three years and one month in prison for laundering money in a scheme with his daughter that collected more than $400,000 for expenses of a lawsuit that never existed, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, Alabama Securities Commission Director Joseph P. Borg, IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Veronica Hyman-Pillot, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard D. Schwein Jr.
U.S. District Judge C. Lynwood Smith Jr. sentenced PAUL HASKELL LANE JR., 69, to prison and ordered him to pay $343,900 in restitution to 20 victims of the scam he perpetrated with his daughter, Katherine Hope Lane, 28. The judge also ordered Paul Lane to forfeit $10,500 to the government as proceeds of illegal activity. Paul Lane pleaded guilty to the money-laundering charge in August.
“The crime in this case was plotted and executed over more than three years’ time. As part of that scheme, Lane peddled a false story about a lawsuit for which his family ostensibly needed money,” the government said in its sentencing memorandum to the court. “After Lane seeded the ground, Katherine fertilized and watered it with myriad lies and stories designed to engender additional sympathy and obtain more money from Lane’s friends and associates. At critical times, Lane spoke to key money sources (i.e., victims) to ensure that the funds continued to flow to him and Katherine.”
DOJ press release link: click here