June 28, 2004
GRAND JURY INDICTS WESTERLY AUTO DEALER ON MONEY
LAUNDERING CHARGES,SEEKS FORFEITURE OF THE DEALERSHIP’S ASSETS
Renato M. Garcia, owner of Renskip Motor Sales, is
accused of structuring cash transactions
PROVIDENCE, R.I.—A federal grand jury has charged
Renato M. Garcia, 35, of East Haddam, Connecticut, on money laundering
charges, alleging that, to avoid federal transaction reporting requirements,
he structured transactions that purportedly involved illicit property.
Federal agents, including U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement special agents, and local police arrested Garcia last month
at his Westerly dealership, Renskip Motor Sales, charging him with laundering
money represented to him as being the proceeds of criminal activity.
ICE Special Agent-in-Charge Robin Avers , the Office
of the United States Attorney, DEA Special Agent-in-Charge Mark R. Trouville,
IRS Criminal Investigations Special Agent-in-Charge Joseph A. Galasso,
Westerly Police Chief Stephen Baker, and Hopkinton Police Chief John
Scuncio jointly announced a three-count indictment that was returned
Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Providence.
Garcia has been detained at the Wyatt Federal Detention
Center, Central Falls, since his arrest May 25. He will be brought into
U.S. District Court for arraignment on the indictment.
The indictment seeks the forfeiture of assets that
the government alleges were involved in the alleged money laundering:
the real estate at 85 Main Street and the assets of Renskip Motor Sales,
85 Main Street, which include $414,078 in cash and 46 motor vehicles.
Agents seized the cash-$128,800 from Garcia’s home
at 32 East Haddam Cochester Turnpike, East Haddam and $285,278 from
a bank account-on the day he was arrested. The motor vehicles, including
two Hummer HU2 SUVs, four Porsche Carreras, and a 1995 Mercedes Benz
E300, were towed from Renskip the same day.
The investigation began in June 2003 when a Westerly
detective advised federal agents of suspicions he had about Garcia’s
purchase of the automobile dealership and of his transactions there.
According to an affidavit by a federal agent in support
of complaint that lead to Garcia’s arrest, on three occasions --March
6, March 20, and April 2-- Garcia sold motor vehicles for prices ranging
from $15,000 to $17,5000 in cash and on each occasion recorded the sale
price as under $10,000. Transactions of $10,000 or more must be reported
to the United States Government. On one of those occasions, according
to the affidavit, Garcia noted that the cash the buyer had smelled like
marijuana.
The indictment charges Garcia with three counts of
money laundering, specifically, conducting financial transactions involving
property represented as the proceeds of unlawful activity and structuring
those transactions to avoid the federal reporting requirement. The indictment
also alleges that the assets listed in the indictment were used to facilitate
Garcia’s money laundering activity.
An indictment is merely and allegation and a defendant
is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The statutory maximum penalty for each count of money
laundering, upon conviction, is 20 years in federal prison and a fine
of $250,000 or twice the amount of gain or loss. Federal sentencing
is determined on the basis of guidelines that rely on such factors as
the specific nature of an offense and a defendant’s criminal background,
if any.
Assistant U.S Attorneys Kenneth P. Madden, Stephen
G. Dambruch, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael P. Iannotti are prosecuting
the case.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was
established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department
of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of four integrated divisions
that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities
for a number of key homeland security priorities.
http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/062804indictment.htm
Authorities Seize Luxury Cars Worth Millions
A High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task
Force seized numerous luxury vehicles worth several million dollars
from a used car dealership, and charged two men with selling the cars
to suspected drug dealers and failing to report the proceeds. The auto
dealership’s owner was arrested, charged with money laundering. Also
arrested was a relative, who was charged with allegedly trying to avoid
reporting the funds to the Internal Revenue Service.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a component
of the HIDTA task force, and assisted in this investigation by conducting
a review using FinCEN’s Gateway Program of the Currency and Banking
Retrieval System database for Bank Secrecy Act reports relating to the
dealership and the two subjects. Located reports included 15 Currency
Transaction Reports and one Suspicious Activity Report. The investigation
revealed an informant told federal agents that the used car dealership’s
owners would take cash payments from drug dealers for vehicle purchases.
They would then structure the payments to avoid the Bank Secrecy Act
reporting requirements. Agents went to the car lot, told the owners
they were heroin dealers, and wanted to launder their drug proceeds
through the purchase of luxury cars. The two men agreed to structure
the payments and not file IRS Form 8300, Reports of Cash Payments Over
$10,000 Received in a Trade or Business, for each of the sales.
During a search of Bank Secrecy Act records, no Forms
8300 were located for this used car dealership, which supported the
informant’s statement, and substantiated the owners did not complete
the required reporting. A further review of Currency Transaction Reports
linked cash deposits into three separate bank accounts for the dealership
owners. The Suspicious Activity Report was useful, as it provided the
dates and amounts of structured deposits into accounts at a major depository
institution.
The HIDTA task force included members of federal,
state and local law enforcement agencies.
http://www.fincen.gov/authoritiesseizeluxurycar.html
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