Boston Lawyer Indicted for Money Laundering
The Boston Globe reports this morning that Newton, Mass., attorney Lawrence M. Perlmutter has been charged with conspiring to launder drug proceeds and failing to file IRS forms related to monetary transactions. According to the Globe, Perlmutter made cash deposits into his law firm's trust account, which he then converted into cashier’s checks to bail out defendant’s with pending drug cases.
According to the agent’s affidavit filed in the case, a co-defendant, Secundino Cespedes acquired funds from drug dealers, and it was those funds that were, allegedly, laundered through Perlmutter’s trust account.
Perlmutter was arrested by federal agents outside of a Bank of America branch in Roxbury, Mass., after allegedly converting $100,000 into a cashier’s check. Apparently, according to the Globe, Cespedes’ business partner, Rafael Benzan, provided the $100,000 to Perlmutter in a sting operation.
Perlmutter is scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court today.
