Accounting Firm Sentenced for Failing to File Cash Transaction Forms

Portland, Maine:  A Lewiston accounting firm was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Portland for failing to file cash transaction forms, U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced.

U.S. District Judge George Z. Singal sentenced Leonardo & Co., P.A. to one year of probation. The company was also fined $15,000 and ordered to forfeit $12,500. The company pleaded guilty on June 12, 2019.

According to court records, in 2017, Leonardo & Co. wrote four checks, each in the amount of $12,500, to a member of a marijuana trafficking organization. The checks were drawn on accounts associated with the firm. The payments did not involve a tax refund or payment for any services rendered to the firm. Instead, on each occasion, the company exchanged the checks for $12,500 in cash.
Because the checks involved the receipt of more than $10,000 in U.S. currency, federal law required Leonardo & Co. to file a report commonly known as a Form 8300. The company failed to file reports as required by federal law and as a result intentionally evaded the mandated reporting requirements. 

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case.

The prosecution is a result of the ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Program, a partnership between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. The OCDETF mission is to identify, investigate, and prosecute high-level members of drug trafficking enterprises, bringing together the combined expertise and unique abilities of federal, state, and local law enforcement.