Springfield, Ill. – A federal grand jury today returned an indictment charging a Bourbonnais, Illinois man with structuring monetary transactions over the past four years to evade Currency Transaction Reporting requirements involving more than $5.59 million in cash. The grand jury charged Shaker Mohammad, 25, of the 900 block of Peony Lane, Bourbonnais, Illinois, with 66 counts of unlawful money structuring. The indictment also seeks a personal money judgment against Mohammad equal to $5,590,500 in U.S. currency, representing the amount of the property involved in or traceable to the alleged structuring offenses.

The indictment alleges that from June 3, 2005, to the present, Mohammad has had signatory authority over the business bank account of G & S Gas, Inc. at a Kankakee bank. The indictment alleges that beginning on or about June 2005 through at least March 2009, on more than 700 occasions, Mohammad deposited individual sums of U.S. currency under the threshold amount of $10,000 to avoid filing a Currency Transaction Report, or “CTR.” CTRs are required to be completed when persons deposit more than $10,000 in U.S. currency as a part of a transaction at a financial institution.

A summons will be issued by the U.S. Clerk of the Court for Mohammad’s initial appearance in federal court on a date to be determined by the Clerk.

If convicted, each count of unlawful money structuring carries a statutory penalty of up to five years in prison.

The charge is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene L. Miller.

Members of the public are reminded that an indictment is merely an accusation; the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.