Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 1

[R.A. Hettinga]

<http://www.world-check.com/confessions/2007/02/25/confessions-money-launderer-part-1/>




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Financial Crime Consultant, for World-Check

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Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 1

2 October 2006

How did I get to be a money launderer and what is it like for those who
practise that dark art? Today we publish the first installment in a series
that will answer those important questions, and further detail how I went
from career criminal to financial crime consultant and compliance officer.

 

In the world of money laundering, you often wonder whether this will be the
day that some law enforcement agency shuts down your operation. This may
happen not because of some mistake you have carelessly committed, but
because some client, already under arrest and looking at a long term in
prison, discloses some critical details of your financial pipeline. It is
called Substantial Assistance in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines;  the
only way one can obtain a reduction in what might be a long sentence is to
give up information useful in making additional arrests, or to assist the
government in gaining possession of criminal profits.

The End of the Beginning.

The day began much like any other; I was in my law office very early,
preparing for a commercial real estate closing. A Colombian client was
purchasing an apartment building that morning, and I was going over the
documents before business began for the day. Many money launderers are
lawyers and accountants with numerous legitimate clients who have no idea
their trusted advisor moves illicit funds for criminal organisations. They
think he is just another diligent professional serving the business
community.

Two Special Agents that I knew to be from the Internal Revenue Service
Criminal Investigation Division in Fort Lauderdale, barged into the office
and announced that I was under arrest. These agents had previously sought
to obtain information from me about my clients' offshore tax haven
financial activity, and had subpoenaed me to appear before a Grand Jury
investigating my clients.

They were understandably quite unhappy when I refused to testify, and since
the government prosecutor declined to give me immunity (I was also a
target), they were unable to obtain details of the clients' tax haven
corporations. Therefore, arresting me that day two years later must have
been quite satisfying.

I was driven downtown to the US District courthouse, and learned that I was
being charged with:

	*	Racketeering (RICO) Conspiracy, which could result in a sentence
of 20 years to life in federal prison upon conviction.

	*	Conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by interfering
with the lawful collection of taxes, another felony, with a 5 year term of
imprisonment.

Dumped into a holding cell, I  was brought before a magistrate judge that
afternoon, who released me on bond after a short hearing where he noted
that my substantial ties to the community made me a low risk for flight.
Since I had resided in Miami for twenty years, he knew that I was not about
to flee before trial, and lose my license to practise law. 

How did a decorated military veteran of America's wars, who had never
before been arrested, and with seventeen years of experience as a lawyer in
Miami, come to be before the court under such circumstances? To answer that
question, we must turn back the clock ten years, and enter the sordid world
of narcotics trafficking at a time when it exploded upon the North American
market.

The House on Twenty-Third Street.

It was a tattered, white wood-frame home in Miami's middle class Shenandoah
neighborhood, complete with front porch swing, and an old Pan American
Airways street number, evidently left by a prior owner or tenant. A quiet
street in an anonymous, older part of town. Nobody paid much attention to
the residents. 

That house had but one occupant; Let's call him Bill Baker. Bill was an
American, born in St. Louis. The son of two missionaries, his family had
moved to Cuba when Bill was a small child, and he grew up in that Caribbean
nation. After military service with the Marines in Vietnam, Bill had moved
to Miami, where he soon found that his unique bilingual, bicultural
background made him eminently suitable as a liaison between Colombian drug
smugglers, and Americans and Cubans seeking to move cocaine and marijuana
to consumers throughout the United States and Canada.

Bill's home was the point of contact between the smugglers and the dealers,
and I came to live in that home with him for several months at a critical
time in my life, picking up not only a working knowledge of drug smuggling
trade-craft, but a host of criminal clients as well.

In our next installment: the journey from lawyer to money launderer begins. 

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Read more in this exciting series

Confessions of a Money launderer - Part 32

21 May 2007

Confessions of a Money launderer - Part 31

6 May 2007

Confessions of a Money launderer - Part 30

30 April 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 29

22 April 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 28

15 April 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 27

8 April 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 26

2 April 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 25

24 March 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 24

19 March 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 23

12 March 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - part 22

5 March 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 21

25 February 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 20

19 February 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 19

12 February 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 18

4 February 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 17

28 January 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 16

22 January 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 15

15 January 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 14

7 January 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 13

2 January 2007

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 12

16 December 2006

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 11

10 December 2006

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 10

3 December 2006

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 9

27 November 2006

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 8

19 November 2006

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 7

11 November 2006

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 6

5 November 2006

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 5

29 October 2006

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 4

22 October 2006

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 3

16 October 2006

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 2

9 October 2006

Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 1

2 October 2006
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
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[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
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