United States v. Ghaddar, No. 11-3074 (7th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseDefendant owned tobacco stores. Currency sales accounted for roughly half of the revenue. He directed employees to separate currency from credit-card and check receipts. He used currency to pay employees and suppliers and failed to report currency receipts on federal and state tax forms from 2002 to 2009. He channeled much of the currency (more than $60 million) to bank accounts in Lebanon, his homeland. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. 1341, and impeding administration of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. 7212(a). With an upward adjustment of 2 levels for using sophisticated means, U.S.S.G. 2B1.1(b)(10)(C), 2T1.1(b)(2), he was sentenced to 76 months. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. Although defendant did not create phony corporations, use fake names to open accounts, or employ technology to conceal assets, his conduct was sophisticated because he directed employees to separate currency receipts, he withheld funds from corporate bank accounts, and concealed the magnitude of his sales. He secreted money into foreign accounts by carrying currency and cashier’s checks during his travels, avoided reporting by depositing currency in multiple transactions (structuring or smurfing) 31 U.S.C. 5324; and washed money through the accounts of relatives and associates.
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