Lori Loughlin has a very big money-laundering conspiracy problem
Readers of the FCPA Blog know that money-laundering conspiracy charges are often part of white collar prosecutions.
That’s because it’s hard to commit most other white collar crimes without also committing money laundering.
On Tuesday, the DOJ brought a superseding indictment against 16 parents involved in the college admissions scandal who hadn’t already pleaded guilty to bribery.
The 16 were additionally charged with conspiring to commit fraud and money laundering.
For the DOJ, money-laundering conspiracy charges are extra potent.
The federal anti-money laundering law –18 U.S.C. §1956 — packs a wallop, with a fine of a half million dollars or more and up to 20 years in prison.
A money-laundering conspiracy conviction carries the same penalties and is even easier to prove.
The feds themselves know the power of money-laundering charges in cases like the college cheating scandal.
The prosecutors’ handbook (known previously as the U.S. Attorneys Manual and now called the Justice Manual) says, “A conviction for money laundering may result in a much more severe sentence than a conviction based solely upon a mail or wire fraud.”
The conspiracy section of the federal money-laundering statute is uncomplicated. 18 U.S.C. §1956(h) — a basis for this week’s superseding indictment — says,
The FCPA Blog