Canadian Man Pleads Guilty to Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering Charges

BOSTON – A Canadian man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with his role in a drug trafficking and money laundering organization that imported marijuana and MDMA, the club drug also known as “ecstasy” or “mollie”, from Canada into the United States.

Gurshuran Singh, 33, of Brampton, Ontario, Canada, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute MDMA and marijuana and one count of money laundering conspiracy.  Singh was arrested in Canada in May 2014.  In July 2016, he was temporarily surrendered from Canada to the United States to plead guilty to the charges in the indictment and unrelated drug charges in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of New York.  U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencing for Dec. 7, 2016.

From the summer 2011 to approximately March 2012, Singh agreed with a co-conspirator to transport MDMA and marijuana over the Canadian-U.S. border in Michigan.  Singh then recruited a courier to drive the MDMA and marijuana on at least three occasions to Joshua Rabinovitch, a Salem, Mass. man, who sold the drugs and returned the proceeds to Canada.  In April 2012, Singh separately recruited another co-defendant, Adeel Bhutta, to pick up what Singh and Bhutta believed to be $240,000 in drug proceeds from Rabinovitch’s sale of MDMA in Massachusetts. 

In July 2014, Judge Casper sentenced Bhutta to 28 months in prison for his role in the money laundering conspiracy.  In February 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns sentenced Rabinovitch to 24 month in prison for his role in the drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracies.  David Nguyen, a third co-defendant charged in the indictment, is the subject of an extradition request to Canada and faces charges for both the drug and money laundering conspiracies. 

The narcotics charge provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, a minimum of three years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of $1 million.  The money laundering charge provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of money involved in the laundering transactions.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Matthew J. Etre, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston made the announcement today.  The U.S. Attorney acknowledges the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs for its assistance in securing Singh’s temporary surrender to the United States.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Seth B. Kosto and Timothy E. Moran of Ortiz’s Criminal Division.