Today, a Passaic County man admitted his role in an illegal money transmitting business, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
According to U.S. Attorney Sellinger, Julio De La Cruz Acosta, 42, of Paterson, pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging him with aiding and abetting an illegal money transmitting business.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
From July 2016 to December 2017, De La Cruz Acosta accepted $1.94 million in cash to purchase 67 cashier’s checks at banks in and around New Jersey and elsewhere.
De La Cruz Acosta admitted that he knew that the cash was from an illegal source and that he purchased the cashier’s checks to aid, abet and facilitate an illegal money transmitting business.
The investigation revealed that the cash was the proceeds of illegal drug distribution.
The check purchases were part of a large-scale illegal money transmitting and money laundering scheme designed to hide the illegal source of the cash and transfer it from New Jersey to the Dominican Republic and Colombia, all while attempting to avoid scrutiny by law enforcement and U.S. banks.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation.
OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.
Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.