In the following press release the Jeffrey C. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Western District of Washington announced that JOSHUA MACKE, 35, of Bellevue, Washington has been sentenced in U.S. District Court in Seattle to six years in prison, and three years of supervised release for Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana and Conspiracy to Engage in Money Laundering. As part of his plea agreement of March 24, 2007, MACKE will forfeit to the government three late model vehicles, nearly $1 million in currency and investments, and his home. At sentencing U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez noted “this was an extensive organization with large amounts of illegal drugs and money.”

MACKE was arrested in May 2006, following an investigation of his drug trafficking activities. MACKE was distributing pound quantities of B.C. Bud marijuana in the Seattle area. The marijuana was being transported into Washington State from Canada. MACKE was one of some 40 defendants identified as part of Operation Frozen Timber. MACKE attempted to launder the proceeds of his drug activity by using cash to invest in real estate and in one instance a fledgling business. Specifically, between June 2003 and February 2005, MACKE invested more than $100,000 in cash in a flat screen TV company called Flat TV USA. No records of the investment were ever created. Later MACKE delivered more than $500,000 to a mortgage broker for real estate investments. Some of that money was transferred to real estate lawyer Joel Manalang. MACKE also invested in real estate in Kent, and purchased a Lexus, Ford Truck and Dodge Truck with cash from the drug trade.

Some of MACKE’s co-conspirators have already been sentenced to prison. Attorney Joel Manalang and businessman James Baxter were both sentenced to 18 months in prison for their roles in the money laundering.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Susan Roe and Ronald Friedman.

For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office, at (206) 553-4110.

In the following press release The United States Attorney for the State of Washingon announced that on November 3, 3006 JOEL MANALANG, 37, a Seattle, Washington attorney was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 18 months in prison, two years of supervised release and a $6,000 fine for Money Laundering. At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez said, “Warnings that were given were not heeded by Mr. Manalang. As a result of that error in judgment he will suffer quite a bit.”

MANALANG was a real estate attorney who operated an escrow business. Court papers allege that during 2003 and 2005, MANALANG received large quantities of cash from clients under circumstances indicating to MANALANG that the money was derived from drug trafficking. The money was received by MANALANG in shoe boxes and duffle bags. MANALANG thereafter engaged in financial transactions with these monies assisting drug traffickers in the acquisition of real estate. On one occasion, MANALANG stored several hundred thousand dollars cash in his residence, before returning it to others. MANALANG pleaded guilty on August 1, 2006 and acknowledged that he knew the funds were derived from criminal activity, and that his actions were intended to conceal the true nature of the funds and from whom they were obtained, and to evade currency reporting requirements imposed by law.

Click here to read the criminal information and plea agreement.

Writing to the court, Assistant United States Attorney Ron Friedman noted that MANALANG had been warned by law enforcement about laundering the proceeds of crime: “What makes his situation most difficult to understand is that law enforcement visited him during 2005, prior to his commission of this criminal conduct, and warned him regarding such activities. Those warnings were not heeded…” Friedman noted that MANALANG will now lose his career as an attorney and real estate broker.

MANALANG told Judge Martinez, “My desire to be successful and have my family and friends be proud of me led me to ignore warning signs.”

This was an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation, providing supplemental federal funding to the federal and state agencies involved. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI). The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Ron Friedman and Susan Roe.

For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office at (206) 553-4110.

KBCI 2 News in Boise, Idaho reports that Jerod Lee Keyser, a mortgage broker, was arrested along with 11 other men and has been indicted. He is accused of involvement in a wide ranging Cocaine and Marijuana drugs trafficking scheme. Please click here to see the first 40 pages of the indictment.

The Register Guard reports that  Keyser, is charged with laundering drug profits through his company, Infinity Finance. According to prosecutors the conspirators allegedly bought business interests, airplanes, boats, vehicles, and properties in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California, Hawaii and Colorado using loans from Keyser.

Records obtained from the Idaho Department of Finance show that Keyser is the “qualified person” at Infinity Financial Group. Inc which is licensed at four addresses:

#2 PO BOX 1409, PRIEST RIVER, ID 83856.
9212 N GOVERNMENT WAY STE B, HAYDEN, ID 83835
323 PINE ST, SANDPOINT, ID 83864
1616 E SELTICE WAY, POST FALLS, ID 83854

A search of Idaho State records shows that the registered agent for Infinity is Jerod Keyser and that the company was registered in 2001

The website for Infinity can be found at www.infinityfinancialgroup.net

Please remember that this is only an indictment and indicted persons are considered innocent until it is proven otherwise.

The Star Ledger – June 10, 2005

Ted Sherman reported for the Star Ledger that a Camden drug dealer who laundered thousands of dollars in cocaine profits through a massive mortgage fraud scheme was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison.

The case was one of the first in New Jersey involving the flipping of properties to hide the profits of a lucrative crack cocaine operation.

Kenny Jenkins, 35, was convicted in U.S. District court in January on 23 of 35 counts of fraud, conspiracy to distribute drugs and money laundering, in connection with his flipping of $1 million in dilapidated houses in some of Camden’s worst neighborhoods. The properties were all sold by the use of phony paperwork to obtain government-backed mortgages.

Read our other stories about this person by clicking here, including the indictment and lists of properties involved

BALTIMORE , Maryland - United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Allen F. Loucks announces that today U.S. District Court Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Natasha Adams, a native of Salisbury, age 27, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, to 2 years in prison, followed by 2 years of supervised release for money laundering of drug proceeds.

During her guilty plea on April 21, 2005, the government proved that between 1997 and 2003, Jermaine Wallace and others conspired to distribute, and distributed, cocaine hydrochloride and cocaine base in the District of Maryland, primarily in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and counties located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The distribution of the controlled substances by Wallace and others in the conspiracy generated large sums of money. Wallace solicited the assistance of his girlfriend Natasha Adams, in the concealment and legitimation of the illegal

proceeds. Natasha Adams was aware that the monies provided by Jermaine Wallace were proceeds of his drug sales. During the course of the conspiracy, Natasha Adams used drug proceeds to purchase a 2000 BMW X5 on March 9, 2000 and to obtain a loan in the amount of $206,275.42 to purchase a home located at 4200 Lavendar Lane, Mitchellville, Maryland in December 2002.

In addition, Natasha Adams used various bank accounts which contained cash provided by Wallace to send wire transfers to and on behalf of Wallace. Between 2000 and 2002, Adams wired approximately $17,723 from the accounts. Finally, for the period between 1998 and 2002, Natasha Adams’s bank accounts with Chevy Chase Bank reflect deposits totaling $364,142.41, of which approximately $191,374.32 were in cash. The cash deposits constitute drug proceeds from Jermaine Wallace.

US DOJ (Ohio) Press Release  – May 27, 2005

CINCINNATI - Daryle Ballew, age 33, of Madisonville, was sentenced in United States District Court here today to 30 years imprisonment on charges of conspiracy and money laundering, the charges stemming from his leadership in a ring that distributed multiple kilograms of cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana.

Ballew pled guilty on April 26, 2004. Ten others were charged and have pled guilty to related charges. Click here to read the court sentencing record

The Bureau of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and DART agents focused their investigation on the drug conspiracy in 2000. During the investigation, agents learned that Ballew and Dwight Cooke were responsible for holding together a narcotics distribution ring that included Kerry Drake Torain, Joseph K McEntire, Robert Gassett, Stephon Bouldin, Eddie Whittle II, Calvin Chapel, Maurice Wallace, and Dekinmien Whetstone. The agents also determined that the conspiracy reached into Chicago, Illinois and other cities.

The agents determined that a number of members of the conspiracy also processed the cocaine into crack cocaine for the purpose of street-level sales.

In June 2003, teams of federal, state and local law enforcement agents executed federal search warrants at more than 23 different locations in the Greater Cincinnati area, seizing more than $1.2 million in cash, a large amount of narcotics and firearms.

Ballew’s sentence also includes forfeiture of more than $500,000 in U.S. currency, five vehicles, ten pieces of real property, and other miscellaneous property including audio and computer equipment and two electronic money counters. Click here to read the list of properties

The conspiracy centered in Madisonville, which has been recognized as a “Weed and Seed” community by the U.S. Department of Justice. Communities earn that recognition when residents prepare and execute a strategy to weed out crime and seed the community with improvement programs.

US DOJ Press Release - March 3, 2005

St. Louis , Missouri : A St. Louis man who was part of a multi-million dollar drug trafficking organization has been sentenced to almost 25 years in prison on drug and fraud charges, United States Attorney James G. Martin announced today. This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Ed Rogers is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

REGINALD DINEZ JOHNSON , a/k/a Cedric Miller, 35, of the 5600 block of Greer, St. Louis, was sentenced this morning to 292 months in prison. On December 9, 2004, Johnson, and co-defendants CARL ALEXANDER, 39, of the 4800 block of Meuse, Black Jack, Missouri, and TERRY BROWN, 36, of the 7000 block of Brandon, St. Louis, were convicted of multiple counts, including conspiracy to distribute cocaine and PCP and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Johnson appeared today for sentencing before United States District Judge E. Richard Webber.

PATRICIA ALEXANDER-BUTLER , 58, of the 14500 block of Mondoubleau Lane, St. Louis, was convicted of one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud on the same date, and awaits sentencing later this month.

According to testimony presented at trial, Edward Anderson was the leader of a criminal enterprise that was responsible for the distribution of more than 150 kilos of cocaine and 30 kilos of PCP in the St. Louis area. He was also engaged in illegal monetary transactions to launder the proceeds of the drug conspiracy. Additionally, between July and December 2001, EDWARD ANDERSON, CARL ALEXANDER, and Alexander’s mother, PATRICIA ALEXANDER BUTLER, a/k/a Patricia Washington, conspired to defraud a bank in the purchase of a property in Black Jack, Missouri, for $269,000. BUTLER inflated her assets and income during the course of the application process and stated that the residence was to be her primary residence, when in fact it was being purchased for CARL ALEXANDER. EDWARD ANDERSON provided the money for cashier’s checks for various transactions during the purchase of the property, but listed BUTLER as the remitter to conceal the source of the funds and make it appear that she was using her own currency at closing. This made BUTLER appear to be a secure and creditworthy borrower, when in fact she was not.

US DOJ Press Release - February 9, 2005

Dunn Lampton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, announced that members of a major Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering operation were sentenced for their part in the operation. REGINALD ODOM of Port Gibson was sentenced to 168 months in prison for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute at least 15 kilograms (33 lbs.) of cocaine. KENNETH WILLIAMS of Greenville was sentenced to 151 months in prison for his role in the drug conspiracy. CHASTITY WILLIAMS of Hattiesburg, a drug courier in the Conspiracy, was sentenced to 20 months in prison. MELVIN ANDERSON of Port Gibson was sentenced to 30 months in prison for laundering the drug proceeds from Odom’s drug trafficking operation.

From September 1997 through June 2002, REGINALD ODOM, KENNETH WILLIAMS, and CHASTITY WILLIAMS entered into an agreement with each other and others, travelling across state lines for the purpose of purchasing cocaine for distribution in Mississippi. From September 1997 through September 2003, MELVIN ANDERSON agreed to launder the illegal money generated by the drug operation of Odom, including the purchase of a $58,000 piece of property in the Port Gibson area.

“The prosecution of large scale narcotics operations created to put illegal drugs in the hands of Mississippians remains a priority of my office,” Lampton said, “We will continue to pursue and prosecute these predators.”

The investigation, dubbed “Operation Rolex”, was conducted principally by the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics with the assistance of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gregg Kennedy.