Press Release
Lawyer With Former Jersey City, New Jersey, Practice Admits Structuring Cash Deposits
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey
NEWARK, N.J. – A lawyer who previously practiced in Jersey City, New Jersey, today admitted structuring approximately $200,000 in cash to avoid reporting requirements, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Magdy Fouad Anise, a/k/a “Michael Anise,” 52, of Aberdeen, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls in Newark federal court to Count Two of an indictment charging him with structuring.
According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Anise was an attorney at Anise & Anise, Attorneys at Law, located in Jersey City. From 2009 through 2011, Anise received cash kickbacks from doctors and others in exchange for personal-injury client referrals. In lieu of cash, Anise asked a doctor who gave him kickbacks to pay him with gold bars, give money to Anise’s church and pay Anise’s mortgage.
Anise admitted that from 2009 through 2012, he made cash deposits into five different bank accounts that he controlled in amounts less than $10,000, the amount that would have triggered the filing of a currency transaction report (CTR) with the IRS.
CTRs require disclosure of the identity of the individual who conducted the transaction and the individual or organization for whom the transaction was completed. Many individuals involved in illegal activities are aware of these reporting requirements and take active steps to cause financial institutions not to file CTRs in order to avoid detection of the movement of large amounts of U.S. currency. These steps are referred to as “structuring” and involve making multiple cash deposits or withdrawals in amounts of $10,000 or less on the same day or consecutive days in order to avoid CTR filings.
The charge of structuring cash transactions to avoid reporting requirements carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for June 22, 2016.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Newark Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Terence S. Opiola, with the investigation leading to today’s plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lakshmi Srinivasan Herman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.
Defense Counsel: Roy Greenman Esq., Union
Updated September 16, 2016
Topic
Financial Fraud
Component