Money Laundering

The former chief executive of the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant is facing dozens of additional charges of fraud and money laundering in a new federal indictment. Former Agriprocessors CEO Sholom Rubashkin is being held on 12 counts of bank fraud, harboring illegal immigrants, document fraud and identity theft after a May 2008 federal raid at the Agriprocessors plant that netted nearly 400 illegal immigrant workers -- including 18 juveniles. The new indictment adds 86 counts of bank fraud, money laundering and violating an order of the U.S. secretary of Agriculture.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko's conviction on money-laundering and conspiracy charges was upheld by a federal appeals court Friday, a judgment that will keep the long-incarcerated politician in U.S. prisons for at least several more years. Lazarenko, 56, was head of the Ukrainian government from May 1996 to June 1997, during which, prosecutors said, he siphoned at least $200 million from the nation's coffers through elaborate schemes of extortion, cronyism and kickbacks.

A federal judge on Wednesday approved U.S. plans to send former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to France to face money-laundering charges, finding the French government had given sufficient assurances it would continue to treat Noriega as a prisoner of war under the Geneva Convention. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Paul Huck followed three other court decisions approving extradition.

Hiding $81,000 in cash under the floorboard of a car and driving toward Mexico is not enough to prove the driver was guilty of money laundering, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. Instead, the court said, prosecutors must also prove the driver was traveling to Mexico for the purpose of hiding the true source of the funds. This was one of a pair of decisions handed down Monday that could make it harder for prosecutors to win convictions for money laundering.

Prosecutors indicted four Inland Empire businessmen Monday on money laundering charges after accusing them of illegally funneling $50,000 in campaign donations to seven state political races over four years. Mark Leggio, part-owner of three car dealerships, allegedly directed three employees to give $3,000 to $3,300 to specific candidates running for the Assembly and state Senate between 2002 and 2006.

An Italian businessman known for dating actress Anne Hathaway and clashing with billionaire Ron Burkle was charged Tuesday with bilking investors out of millions of dollars on promises to buy Catholic Church properties on the cheap. In a 12-count criminal complaint filed in federal court in New York, Raffaello Follieri, 29, was charged with wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors said in court that investors lost as much as $6 million.

Former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian resigned from the opposition party Friday after Swiss authorities requested help in an investigation of suspected money laundering involving his family members. Taiwan's Justice Ministry said in a statement released late Thursday that its Swiss counterpart wanted information on Chen's son, Chen Chih-chung, and daughter-in-law, Huang Jui-ching. The island's authorities said they were cooperating with the inquiry.

U.S. and Colombian investigators have dismantled an international cocaine smuggling and money laundering ring that allegedly used part of its profits to finance Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite militia, officials said Tuesday. Culminating a two-year investigation, authorities arrested at least 36 suspects in recent days, including an accused Lebanese kingpin in Bogota, the Colombian capital.

For a B-team, Los Mapaches sure seemed to be living it up. The soccer club from the small town of Nueva Italia in western Mexico had the finest vehicles, new uniforms every game and unusually high salaries. Little wonder, then, when the team's owner was arrested and accused of laundering millions of dollars for one of Mexico's most powerful drug gangs.

Money laundering and embezzlement charges filed Monday against Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky make it unlikely the prominent political enemy of President Vladimir V. Putin will be released from prison before the 2008 presidential election. Khodorkovsky's conviction in 2005 on tax evasion and fraud charges, viewed by many analysts as retribution for supporting political opposition figures, resulted in an eight-year prison sentence.