A Texas automobile dealer who laundered the proceeds of crime for narcotics traffickers, operators of prostitution rings, and mail & wire fraudsters was sentenced* last week to serve more than fifteen years in Federal Prison. Richard Alan Arledge, who was charged with money laundering, money laundering conspiracy, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, sold luxury care, including Bentleys, Aston Martins and Maseratis, to individuals for cash, delivered in paper bags and pillowcases, all of which was not declared to regulators.
Arledge set up the transactions thus:
(1) He accepted the cash payments for sales, but booked the transactions as leases, so that his company could seek to reacquire any automobiles later seized by law enforcement.
(2) He titled the "leases" in the name of third parties, to hide the identities of the true owners.
Given the circumstances, does the sentence handed down, 188 months, taken into account the seriousness of the crime ? I believe so; the defendant willfully violated the reporting requirements on cash payments of over $10,000, hid the details of ownership, and laundered the illicit profits of his clients.
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*United States vs. Arledge, Case No.: 09-cr-00089-RAS-DDB (SD TX).
Arledge set up the transactions thus:
(1) He accepted the cash payments for sales, but booked the transactions as leases, so that his company could seek to reacquire any automobiles later seized by law enforcement.
(2) He titled the "leases" in the name of third parties, to hide the identities of the true owners.
Given the circumstances, does the sentence handed down, 188 months, taken into account the seriousness of the crime ? I believe so; the defendant willfully violated the reporting requirements on cash payments of over $10,000, hid the details of ownership, and laundered the illicit profits of his clients.
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*United States vs. Arledge, Case No.: 09-cr-00089-RAS-DDB (SD TX).
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