Guyanese pilot Khamraj Lall, who was stopped by Customs Agents in Puerto Rico on his way to Guyana with US$620,000, spent three years making hundreds of small deposits totalling US$6.4M into numerous bank accounts in order to disguise the source of his income, US prosecutors say.
Two days after Lall’s arrest on November 23rd a New Jersey judge issued seizure warrants for the contents of the bank accounts. The matter is currently only in the complaints stage and no opposition has yet been filed. Lall is out on $100,000 bail and faces a criminal trial for bulk cash smuggling on February 23rd.
The details of his activity are included in court documents filed December 18 2014, running to 30 pages, and part of a “civil action seeking to forfeit and condemn to the use and benefit of the United States” bank accounts in his name, and his mother’s, totalling US$442,747.59, two aircraft and a Lexus car that the US government says were all purchased for cash and improved by monies run through those accounts. Properties in New Jersey New York and Florida are listed but the government says it is is not looking to seize these at this time.
“Structuring”
The government says Lall was engaged in structuring which is a practice used by persons attempting to hide the origin of income by making numerous deposits of less than the US$10,000 limit which then requires a currency transaction report (CTR). The government notes that “Many individuals involved in illegal activities, such as tax evasion, money laundering, and narcotics trafficking, are aware of the reporting requirements and take active steps to cause financial institutions to fail to file CTRs in order to avoid detection of the movement of large amounts of cash.”
The government charges that “between April 2011 and September 2014, approximately 1,086 structured U.S. currency deposits totaling approximately $6,324,411.41 were made into bank accounts controlled
by K. Lall or J. Lall (his mother). Those accounts included the fourteen bank accounts from which the defendant funds were seized….”
by K. Lall or J. Lall (his mother). Those accounts included the fourteen bank accounts from which the defendant funds were seized….”
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