Financial Fraud: LUIS DIAZ JR. and LUIS JAVIER DIAZ Sentenced For Their Roles In Funneling $100 Million Through The U.S. Financial System

<h2>Owners Of Miami Export Business Sentenced For &dollar;100 Million Unlicensed Money Transmitting And International Money Laundering Scheme<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Geoffrey S&period; Berman&comma; the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York&comma; announced that LUIS DIAZ JR&period; and LUIS JAVIER DIAZ were sentenced to eight months and four months in prison&comma; respectively&comma; for their roles in funneling more than &dollar;100 million through the U&period;S&period; financial system on behalf of various foreign businesses based predominantly in Venezuela&period; They did so through their Miami-based import&sol;export company&comma; which&comma; for nearly five years&comma; the defendants also used to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business&period; LUIS DIAZ JR&period; and LUIS JAVIER DIAZ were convicted of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and international money laundering following a jury trial in November 2017 before U&period;S&period; District Judge William H&period; Pauley III&comma; who also imposed today’s sentences&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>U&period;S&period; Attorney Geoffrey S&period; Berman said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This father-and-son duo used their small for a large-scale illegal money transmission and money laundering operation&period; By skirting the anti-money laundering safeguards required of licensed institutions&comma; the defendants moved more than &dollar;100 million through U&period;S&period; <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;" title&equals;"financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"858">financial<&sol;a> institutions&period; Today’s sentence is a sign of the seriousness of these crimes and our Office’s commitment to prosecute them&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the Indictment&comma; other filings in Manhattan federal court&comma; and the evidence presented at trial&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Between 2010 and 2016&comma; LUIS DIAZ&comma; JR&period;&comma; and LUIS JAVIER DIAZ used Miami Equipment and Export Company &lpar;the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Company”&rpar;&comma; a company they owned in Doral&comma; Florida&comma; to effect the transmission of at least &dollar;100 million on behalf of entities outside the United States&comma; mostly located in Venezuela&comma; to bank accounts in the United States and elsewhere&comma; in exchange for a fee&period; During this time&comma; the Company was not registered with the State of Florida or the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network &lpar;FinCEN&rpar;&comma; a component of the United States Department of the Treasury&comma; as required by both state and federal laws applicable to money transmitting businesses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Using unlicensed money transmitting businesses like the Company enables entities and individuals to move money into and through the U&period;S&period; financial system while avoiding licensed U&period;S&period; financial institutions that monitor for suspicious activity and report it to U&period;S&period; authorities&comma; including through suspicious activity reports&comma; or SARs&period; Instead&comma; by going through unlicensed entities like the Company&comma; foreign businesses ensure that suspicious patterns of transmissions will not be detected and reported as potential money laundering activity or other financial crime&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Through their unlicensed money transmitting business&comma; LUIS DIAZ JR&period; and LUIS JAVIER DIAZ enabled a number of foreign businesses to move money into and around the United States&period; For instance&comma; the defendants used the Company to transmit over &dollar;100 million into the United States on behalf of KCT&comma; a large Venezuelan consortium of construction companies&comma; and other entities located in Central and South America&period; After they received these funds from KCT or other companies&comma; the defendants received instructions concerning where to send the money as well as fake invoices and contracts purporting to set forth a valid business reason for these payments&period; The fake invoices and contracts made the payments appear connected to legitimate business services being provided to the Company&comma; such as consulting or engineering services&period; In this manner&comma; the defendants sent money on behalf of KCT and other companies to U&period;S&period; and foreign bank accounts of shell companies located around the world&comma; Venezuelan government officials&comma; KCT employees in Venezuela&comma; and others who had no relationship with the defendants or the Company&period; For all of these transmitting activities&comma; the Company received over &dollar;1 million in fees&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p>In addition to the prison terms&comma; LUIS DIAZ JR&period;&comma; 76&comma; and LUIS JAVIER DIAZ&comma; 51&comma; both of Miami&comma; Florida&comma; were sentenced to two years of supervised release&period; The amount of forfeiture will be determined at a later date&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr&period; Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of HSI&comma; DEA&comma; the Englewood&comma; New Jersey&comma; Police Department&comma; and the Border Enforcement Security Task Force&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture Unit&period; Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorneys Edward B&period; Diskant&comma; Daniel M&period; Tracer&comma; and Benet J&period; Kearney are in charge of the prosecution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-sdny&sol;pr&sol;owners-miami-export-business-sentenced-100-million-unlicensed-money-transmitting-and">Original pressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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