The Major Money-Laundering Cases From 2016

From Ballard Spahr’s White Collar Defense/Internal Investigations Group, a look at three key money-laundering cases from last year. The first case, United States v. Georgiadis from the First Circuit, “tests the money laundering statute’s reach in prosecution of an alleged international fraud perpetrated primarily outside of the United States—an increasingly common fact pattern.” The second case, a drug case from the Second Circuit, involves what the writers describe as an evergreen issue: the degree to which the government must show intent in so-called structuring cases – i.e. cases that typically involve “structuring” large bank deposits by making numerous smaller transactions of  less than the reportable $10,000. The third case involves a high-end New York address – 650 Fifth Avenue – and a civil forfeiture case brought by the government against its owner, a foundation that was financed by a bank tied to the government of Iran. The case, 650 Fifth Avenue v. Alavi Foundation, involves “the key issue of knowledge that a transaction involved the dirty proceeds of an offense allegedly committed by a third person.”