Press Release
OWNER OF LAKE WORTH CHECK CASHING BUSINESS PLEADS GUILTY TO FILING FALSE CURRENCY TRANSACTION REPORTS
September 15, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, and Richard Walker, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, announced the September 14, 2009 guilty plea of defendant Munther Duaybes. Duaybes was previously charged in a criminal Information with causing the filing of false currency transaction reports with the IRS, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 5324(a)(2) and (d)(2). Duaybes faces a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years and a $500,000 fine. Sentencing has been scheduled for November 23, 2009, at 4:00 p.m. before U.S. District Court Judge Donald E. Graham.
According to documents publicly disclosed in court, defendant Munther Duaybes is the owner and operator of Mark’s Check Cashing Store, a money service business in Palm Beach County. As a money service business, IRS regulations require Duaybes to file a currency transaction report, or CTR, for any financial transaction over $10,000 conducted by a person in a single day.
From July 2007 through May 2009, Duaybes filed more than1,300 CTRs regarding $42 million in financial transactions on behalf of his customers. More specifically, from April through December 2008, the defendant listed JH American, a shell company, in 128 CTRs regarding 1,253 separate financial transactions worth over $7.5 million. In fact, however, in at least 45 of these financial transactions, non-disclosed individuals (not JH American) conducted the listed financial transactions. Hence, the defendant concealed the true identity of the persons conducting the transactions.
Mr. Sloman commended the investigative efforts of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division and the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey E. Tsai.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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