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One of the founders of a company still under
contract with the state of Montana to screen applicants for its
Swiss-style banking program was convicted of money laundering in
Miami last month, an online newsletter has reported.
OffshoreAlert reported last week
that William Joseph Abraczinskas, 38, was found guilty by a jury in
Miami federal court of one count of money laundering and one count
of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He will be sentenced May
9.
Abraczinskas was caught in an FBI sting operation when he agreed to
use his company, Globalink LLC, to launder money that an undercover
FBI agent said came from the Mexican drug cartel, the newsletter
said.
Abraczinskas told the FBI undercover agent that he could use his
company, Globalink, to accept the cash, deposit it in a foreign
depository and wire the amount to a place of the undercover agent's
choosing, provided the agent signed disclosure form stating the
funds were "clean," the newsletter said, quoting court records.
Abraczinskas said he would charge a 10 percent fee for laundering
the money and had experience handling large amounts of money.
The story did not say where he planned to launder the money. Montana
was out of the question because no foreign capital depository has
been approved in the state yet.
OffshoreAlert also said
Abraczinskas also had "a checkered past" that preceded his firm's
hiring in Montana, with at least five civil judgments entered
against him in the Deschutes Circuit Court in Bend, Ore., and a
current pending lawsuit against him. |
