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News
Release Michael S. Flemmi Pleads Guilty To Laundering Stolen Jewelry Boston, MA…MICHAEL S. FLEMMI, a retired Boston Police detective and brother of Stephen J. Flemmi, pleaded guilty today in federal court to money laundering charges stemming from his role in a 1996 illicit sale of a load of diamond jewelry stolen from a Boston wholesaler that had a retail value of over $100,000. Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division, United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, and Colonel Thomas Foley Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, announced today that FLEMMI pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf to a three count indictment charging him with selling the load of stolen diamond rings, bracelets, and other jewelry for $40,000 in cash to a contact of FLEMMI's in the jewelry industry who whom FLEMMI had developed an illicit relationship. At today's plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that had the case proceeded to trial, the evidence would have proven that associates of FLEMMI robbed the jewelry from a former employee of a Boston jewelry wholesaler who had stolen the merchandise in the course of his employment. FLEMMI and his associates then brokered the black-market sale of the jewelry for cash. In connection with this sale, FLEMMI was charged with three violations of federal money laundering laws, which penalize various types of financial transactions involving the proceeds of criminal activity. Judge Wolf scheduled sentencing for January 6, 2003 at 3:30 p.m. FLEMMI faces a maximum sentence of 50 years' imprisonment, and a $250,000 fine.
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