Tuesday, January 7, 2014

OWNER OF MONEY LAUNDERING "TOY STORY" SENTENCED TO ONLY 18 MONTHS IN PLEA BARGAIN


Jia Hui Zhou, the co-owner of Woodys Toys, was sentenced to eighteen months in Federal Prison, to be followed by six months at a community treatment facility, more commonly known as a halfway house, and fined $10,000, in a favorable plea agreement that begs the question: why was the sentence so lenient ?  

Readers of this blog are familiar with the Woodys Toys money laundering case, but I will summarize it here. A California toy shop was convicted* of operating a unique version of the Black Market Peso Exchange, or BMPE. It operated in this manner:

(1) Drug profits, that were the property of Mexican and Colombian traffickers, were delivered to Woody Toys in the United States.

(2) Latin American businessmen, who wanted to purchase Woody Toys products, but did not have the US Dollars to pay for them, would give Colombian or Mexican Pesos to the traffickers, outside the US.

(3) The toy buyers (foreign toy retailers) would receive a credit, in US Dollars, for their Pesos, at Woodys, which allowed them to import the toys to their stores in Latin America.

Records indicate that Woodys Toys staff members "Smurfed" (structured) $3.9m into US banks, in small amounts, so that no reports would be filed.

My question is: if the owner forfeited $2m, why was his sentence so short ?


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*The corporation was convicted of Money Laundering Conspiracy, and sentenced to five years' Probation, with special restrictions on its operation.


2 comments:

  1. I'm a consultant; I have many clients who is willing to invest in your project or another project in your business, whether as a share holder or joint venture.

    They are also willing to invest in other viable and lucrative business in your country or another country, at your wish.

    Respond and give me more opinion on how we can excel, and I will give you more details about our plans, please note that we are not buyers.

    Williams
    williams.steven@netc.eu

    ReplyDelete
  2. see case no. 14-20050, southern district of florida, exporter acquitted at trial of laundering through BMPE

    ReplyDelete

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