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Simulated Case

For Panel of Friday, March 28, 2003, 4:00 PM to 5:15 PM

One of the most popular panels at Money Laundering Alert’s Annual International Conferences is a simulated case “tried” by real prosecutors, defense lawyers and judge.

The panel’s moderator will be U.S. federal prosecutor Martha Boersch, of San Francisco, who is prosecuting the money laundering case against former Ukraine Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko. Charles Intriago, founder of Money Laundering Alert, will help moderate the panel.

Top prosecutors, investigators and defense attorneys will “try” this case before retired Chief U.S. District Judge Edward Davis. See the panelists.

Don't miss out on this panel! Register for the world’s best international money laundering conference, which is on pace to draw some 900 attendees from more than 50 countries!

Here's a preview of the case...

The Case of Old Methods and New Weapons
(All names are fictional)

Stavros Sliezey, a United States citizen living in New York, is a money laundering specialist who makes a very good living laundering drug money for a Colombian drug cartel. The cartel pays tribute in pesos to a Colombian narco-terrorist groups to protect its coca fields, processing labs and roads.

After using his cellular phone and email to contact persons in the Isle of Banques about purchasing a charter for a bank, Stavros travels to Banques. He buys a charter and names his bank, Royal International Bank. He then travels to the Caribbean Island of Heidenfiend and opens an account for Royal International Bank at Sun & Sea Ltd., a real bank which maintains a correspondent account at Alert National Bank, in Miami.

Officials of Sun & Sea Ltd. inform Stavros of the problems they may encounter with the Island’s Superintendent of Banks and with Alert National Bank because Royal International Bank is a “shell” bank.

Stavros meets with the Superintendent of Banks after talking with him by phone and comes to a “support arrangement” that requires him to place $1 million in the account of the Superintendent’s well-known and longstanding mistress in the Private Banking department of Peps Bank in New York. Stavros wire transfers $1 million to that account.

In each of the next 6 months, Stavros deposits $1.5 million in U.S. currency and 1 million Euros in the account of Royal International Bank at Sun & Sea Ltd. These funds are drug proceeds that Stavros launders for his drug cartel clients.

From the account of Royal International Bank at Sun & Sea, about $500,000 in checks are issued each month to businesses in the Colon Free Zone, Panama, and the Miami Free Trade Zone, as directed by Colombian money brokers who deal in the black market foreign exchange.

The money brokers buy dollars from the drug cartels in exchange for pesos. The cartels use the pesos to pay tribute to the narco-terrorists, who use the pesos to buy weapons and explosives. The money brokers also transfer some of those dollars to buy real estate, life insurance policies and for investments with securities dealers for legitimate clients and for cartel family members.

As required by recent U.S. regulations, Sun & Sea Ltd. has “certified” to Alert National Bank of Miami that it is not a shell bank, and has named a U.S. registered agent. However, it did not inform Alert National Bank that Royal International is a shell bank.

The U.S. DEA recruits an informant who owns a business in the Miami Free Trade Zone that receives dollar payments from Colombian businessmen. The DEA persuades the informant to provide information on the bank checks from Royal International Bank that have been used to pay the invoices of his legitimate customers in Colombia.

DEA recognizes a checks the informant provides as being obtained through the Black Market Peso Exchange. The DEA seeks to identify the ownership of the Royal International Bank and serves a subpoena on the compliance officer at Alert National Bank of Miami since the check cleared through this bank.

Subjects and Issues for the Simulated Case

• Where can the investigation lead?
• Who is at risk of money laundering prosecution and forfeiture?
• On what charges?
• What are the key legal and regulatory issues?
• What new tools are available to investigators?
• What issues are likely to go to the judge during the investigation and at trial?
• What are the international regulatory, enforcement and diplomatic issues?

Find the answers to these questions and more at the 8th Annual International Money Laundering Conference. Register now!