Dual/Iranian Canadian National Sentenced for International Money Laundering

BOSTON – A dual citizen of Iran and Canada was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for international money laundering.

Omid Mashinchi, 35, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to two years in prison, one year of supervised release, ordered to pay a $20,000 fine, and a personal money judgment of approximately $7,616. In July 2018, Mashinchi pleaded guilty to five counts of international money laundering. He was charged in a sealed indictment in January 2018 and arrested in April 2018, when he flew to the United States; he has been in federal custody since.

On five occasions in 2017, Mashinchi transferred funds from a bank in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to a bank in Boston knowing that the money was derived from drug trafficking. On Jan. 28, Mashinchi transferred $37,794; on July 28 he made two transfers, one for $49,915 and another for $49,445; and on Aug. 3, he made two more transfers, one for $49,930 and another in the amount of $49,645.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; and Kristina O’Connell, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Winkler of Lelling’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit prosecuted the case.