*Washington: *An Indian-American has been convicted for his role in aninternational money laundering organisation that conspired to move millionsof dollars in proceeds for narcotics traffickers, authorities said.
Harinder Singh, 32, also known as “Sonu”, was found guilty of conspiracy tocommit money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed moneytransmitting business and operating an unlicensed money transmittingbusiness, the Justice Department said.
Harinder Singh will face a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federalprison for the conspiracy count, and five years for each of the other twocharges.
The sentencing is scheduled for April 30.
A federal grand jury deliberated for less than two hours on January 19before finding Singh guilty of all three charges.
With this, prosecutors have convicted 18 defendants who were named in a2015 grand jury indictment that was the first major case in the USinvolving “hawala” transfers of drug money.
The evidence presented during the two-week trial in US District Court,which included Punjabi language wiretap calls, Punjabi-speaking witnessesand a money laundering expert, showed that Singh participated in a “hawala”conspiracy that was moving money generated from drug sales in Canada to theUS to pay for multi-kilogramme drug shipments purchased in Los Angeles andthen routed back to Canada for distribution.
According to the indictment, Singh was stopped by the California HighwayPatrol in October 2012, which led to the discovery of USD 274,980 in UScurrency in rubber-banded stacks wrapped in black plastic.
While the traffic stop was being conducted, special agents with the DrugEnforcement Administration were conducting surveillance and observedSingh’s wife exiting the couple’s apartment complex carrying a bag whichlater revealed USD 388,100 in US currency, again rubber-banded in stacksand similarly wrapped in black plastic.
Prior to the traffic stop and the seizure at Singh’s apartment complex, afederal wiretap intercepted Punjabi language calls indicating that Singhand co-conspirators communicated over multiple telephones to arrange forthe pick- up, transport and delivery of large amounts of US currency inamounts of up to USD 800,000 across Los Angeles.
In this case, drug traffickers used a traditional hawala network of brokersspanning the US, Canada and India to secretly transfer millions of dollarsof drug proceeds to the US where brokers such as Singh delivered money tocouriers acting on behalf of the Canadian drug traffickers and Mexican drugcartels.
During the course of a four-year investigation, authorities seized nearlyUSD 15.5 million in bulk US currency, 321 kilogrammes of cocaine, 98 poundsof methamphetamine, 11 kilogrammes of MDMA (“ecstasy”) and nine kilogrammesof heroin.
Previously in this case, 17 defendants have pleaded guilty, and severalhave already been sentenced, receiving prison terms as high as 70 months.
The indictment also charges four other defendants who are currentlyfugitives. – PTI