Last week a federal grand jury in Denver returned two separate indictments charging a total of 22 defendants with crimes related to the trafficking of methamphetamine and international money laundering, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force’s (OCDETF) Strike Force announced. Of the 22 indicted, 20 people were arrested yesterday without incident in metro Denver, California, Utah, and Iowa. The two others not arrested are considered fugitives from justice. The first indictment involves 11 defendants and 135 counts. The second indictment involves 11 additional defendants and 22 counts. Most of those arrested yesterday appeared in U.S. District Court in Denver yesterday afternoon for their initial appearance, where they were advised of the charges pending against them….
One unique aspect of this investigation was the money laundering the defendants allegedly engaged in. The defendants attempted to conceal and disguise the origin of the methamphetamine proceeds. They did this by depositing the methamphetamine proceeds into various bank accounts at financial institutions (called funnel accounts). In an attempt to avoid bank reporting requirements, the defendants would structure the deposits into the accounts by making deposits of less than $10,000. Financial institutions are required to file a currency transaction report (CTR) for any currency transaction in excess of $10,000. To further conceal the ownership and source of the methamphetamine proceeds in the funnel accounts, the defendants would move the funds that were deposited into the funnel accounts to other accounts by means of wire transfers. These wire transfers included transferring funds domestically and internationally. In some instances, there were subsequent wire transfers back to the original funnel accounts with cash withdrawals made in California, avoiding the $10,000 reporting requirements.
FBI press release link: click here