Federal Criminal Defense Blog : Georgia Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Gillen Withers & Lake Law Firm : White Collar Crime, RICO, Trial : Atlanta, Savannah, GA

Arthur "Avi" Hiaeve, owner of the Manhattan diamond store, Hiaeve & Co., was acquitted last Wednesday on money laundering charges in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. According to Reuters, Senior District Judge Allyne Ross granted Mr. Hiaeve's motion for judgment of acquittal on the seven counts of laundering drug money through his business as well as charges of avoiding currency reporting requirements, holding that a single telephone call by Mr. Hiaeve to a government informant was insufficient to establish venue in the Eastern District, and that Mr. Hiaeve should have been prosecuted in Manhattan in the Southern District of New York. The prosecution responded that Mr. Hiaeve allegedly had reason to know that he was laundering money coming from drug operations operating in the Eastern District of New York. Double jeopardy bars a subsequent prosecution of Mr. Hiaeve in Manhattan.

The government had alleged that Mr. Hiaeve laundered at least $106,000 on five occasions. Employees of Hiaeve, Kevin and Tanny Donaldson, were also charged with laundering drug money and entered pleas of guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and money laundering, respectively. Mr. Hiaeve is still involved in a civil forfeiture suit involving $3 million in diamonds and $17,900 in seized currency.

 Source: Elite Choice

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In Georgia Federal Criminal news, the Associated Press reports that Federal prosecutors charged A-440 Pianos, Inc., a piano importer in the Atlanta area, and its owner, Pascal Vieillard, last week with alleged illegal smuggling of 855 elephant ivory key tops into the U.S. Mr. Vieillard and the company pled not guilty, and Mr. Vieillard's counsel has stated that the ivory at issue is more than 100 years old.

In other news, Tony Leon Smith, a resident of Loganville, Georgia, has been charged with wire fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Smith is alleged to have falsely represented himself to an entrepreneur in the Rochester area as a successful investor in foreign currencies and to have promised a 100 percent return within 90 days for investments in alleged foreign exchange instruments. Smith allegedly convinced the man to set up a corporation in the Caribbean island nation of Saint Kitts and to wire $5 million to the corporation. Smith allegedly then withdrew $537,467 from the company's account and converted it to his own use.

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Trevor Cook was 37 year-old Minneapolis, Minnesota-based investment advisor. He is alleged to have defrauded investors of at least $130 million. U.S. District Judge Michael Davis found Cook in contempt of an order by the Court requiring Cook and his associates to turn in investor assets to a receiver, according to an article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Cook invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in response to questions regarding money, assets and offshore accounts. U.S. Marshals took Cook into custody yesterday. The Court ordered Cook to remain incarcerated until he cooperates with the receiver and surrenders monies and assets, including a houseboat and a submarine. Cook is also ordered to assist in the recovery of a computer and other records.

Cook pitched currency investments to investors. The alleged scheme was promoted by Cook and Pat Kiley in a widely broadcast radio program called "Follow the Money." Cook used a vast array of business entities and bank accounts to funnel monies from investors, including eight accounts in the U.S. and 19 foreign accounts in a dozen countries. The structuring of the transactions and the fact that some of the foreign accounts are in countries noted for being bank secrecy havens has made the monies difficult to locate. Cook has not yet been indicted.

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