May 3, 2004
For Immediate Release
P R E S S R E L E A S E
MICHAEL RITTER, age 55, a Maui resident, today pled guilty in United States District Court to conspiring to launder profits from drug trafficking and filing a tax return in which he failed to disclose foreign bank accounts from which he derived income. According to court documents filed in connection with the case, RITTER participated in smuggling at least a dozen multi-ton loads of marijuana into the western United States from Thailand and deposited approximately $2.5 million in proceeds from those drug trafficking efforts into accounts in Hong Kong and the Isle of Man for the purpose of concealing the location and source of the proceeds.
Edward H. Kubo, Jr., United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said that RITTER also agreed to immediately forfeit $1 million in cash, representing the current value of the remaining assets involved in the money laundering offense. The Information to which RITTER pled guilty alleged that one shipment of three tons of marijuana in 1986 alone grossed approximately $5.5 million. According to court documents, RITTER withdrew approximately $200,000 from the Hong Kong and Isle of Man accounts as recently as 1997 and did not close the Hong Kong account until 2002.
Court documents also reflected that RITTER filed a 1998 U.S. individual income tax return with the Internal Revenue Service in which he failed to disclose that he owned and controlled foreign bank accounts from which he derived income.
RITTER faces maximum punishments of up to 20 years imprisonment and a $500,000 fine for the money laundering conspiracy charge and up to three years imprisonment and a $100,000 fine for the tax violation when he is sentenced by United Stated District Judge Susan Oki Mollway on November 1, 2004, at 3:00 p.m.
The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) within the Department of Homeland Security and the Internal
Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, assisted by the Maui Police
Department and the Hawaii HIDTA task force. Assistant United States Attorney
Chris Thomas is handling the prosecution.
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