Fraud is a serious crime that can have devastating consequences for those who become unwitting accomplices. If you are coerced or tricked into participating in a money laundering scheme, and an investigation uncovers your involvement, it is essential to contact a federal criminal defense lawyer right away. An experienced lawyer can help you build a strong defense and use established techniques to prove your innocence in the courtroom. This may involve the use of an alibi, misidentification, unlawful arrest, or documentation that shows you were deceived. The Postal Inspection Service and six other federal law enforcement agencies recently completed the third annual Money Mule Initiative, a coordinated operation to disrupt networks used by transnational fraudsters to transfer the proceeds of their crimes.
As fraud continues to increase and banks are pressured to demonstrate their proactivity to regulators, more than 35 people have been criminally charged or arrested for receiving payments to victims and sending the profits of fraud to accomplices or for laundering. Agencies participating in the Money Mule Initiative and community partners are carrying out an outreach campaign to raise awareness about how fraudsters use and recruit monetary mules. So how can an ordinary person enter into a money-laundering scheme and be completely unaware of their participation? Organized crime groups use involuntary mules to cash counterfeit checks and money orders or buy merchandise using stolen credit card numbers or other personally identifying information. The attorneys at Sandman, Finn and Fitzhugh are criminal defense lawyers who have experience representing unwitting accomplices in money laundering cases. A significant number of Moneymule transactions are linked to illicit online stores and cybercrime, such as identity theft, malware attacks, credit card fraud, business email communication and other types of scams, including dating sites, lotteries and labor scams. If you find yourself in this situation, it is important to remember that you have rights. An experienced attorney can help you build a strong defense and use established techniques to prove your innocence in the courtroom.
They can discredit evidence, witness testimony, and refute any expert testimony. It is essential to contact a federal criminal defense lawyer right away if you are arrested and charged with a federal crime.
