Pawley’s Island Contractor Sentenced for Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering

Contact Person: William E. Day, II (803) 929-3000

Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated today that Marlon Davis Weaver, age 55, of Pawley’s Island, South Carolina was sentenced in federal court in Florence, for conspiracy to launder money, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h).  United States District Judge R. Bryan Harwell imposed a sentence of 12 months and 1 day incarceration after granting the government’s motion for a reduced sentence based on assistance Weaver had provided in the prosecution of others. The Judge also ordered Weaver to pay $1,200,000 in restitution and to serve 3 years supervised release.

Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that Weaver was the president and owner of Weaver Company, Inc., a construction company which was located in Conway, SC.  In 2008, the company was awarded a contract with the South Carolina Department of Transportation [SCDOT], to perform paving and asphalt operations on a road construction project on Interstate 95.  Weaver Co. was required to supply a performance and payment bond and general indemnity agreement in order to work on the project.  SafeCo Insurance Company of America sold, wrote and acted as a surety on the bond.  SafeCo required that Marlon Weaver agree to reimburse them if SafeCo suffered any losses as a result of issuing bonds to the company.  He provided a financial statement reflecting assets that SafeCo would be entitled to if Weaver Co. caused losses.  Reflected on this financial statement was Weaver’s investment in a company, Gold & Silver, LLC., and his one-fifth interest in Bucks Port Marina held by Weaver Five, LLC.

On November 20, 2009, the contractor for the SCDOT informed Weaver and SafeCo that it declared Weaver Co. in default of the contract under the bond resulting in SafeCo being required to pay approximately $6,000,000.00 to SCDOT.  Weaver backdated documents to make it appear that he had transferred his interest in these assets to his daughters on September 1, 2009, prior to defaulting on the project, when in fact Weaver remained in control of the assets at all times.  Weaver mailed these fraudulent documents to SafeCo’s attorney, who was representing the insurance company in a civil suit against Marlon Weaver and others.  These documents were received by SafeCo on or about 12/18/2009. 
 

Gold & Silver, LLC. was an investment business owned and operated by Archie Evans, which invested in the futures market.  To make it appear that Weaver had transferred his investment in Gold & Silver to his daughter, Jena Weaver, prior to SafeCo incurring losses, Evans agreed to back date documents to reflect that Weaver’s investment was transferred to her September 1, 2009.  These documents were also mailed to SafeCo’s attorney on April 26, 2010.
  

Weaver hired Attorney Thad Viers to represent him in the civil case filed against him by SafeCo.  Weaver informed Viers that he was trying to hide his assets from SafeCo.  On December 1, 2009, Weaver and Viers entered into a written legal fee/service contract which reflects a nonrefundable retainer fee of $500,000.  Weaver gave Viers $500,000 in the form of two cashier’s checks, one in the amount of $490,000 and the other in the amount of $10,000.  Only the $10,000 check was payment for the retainer fee.  The $490,000 was money that Weaver was attempting to conceal from SafeCo.  The source of the $500,000 was funds that Weaver had pulled out of Weaver Company to prevent SafeCo from getting it.  Viers deposited the $490,000 cashier’s check into his operating account on 12/4/2009, then immediately wrote a check to Archie Evans Ministries for $400,000.  The $400,000 was additional money that Weaver was secretly investing with Evans’ company, Gold & Silver.  The difference of $90,000, Viers was to deposit into his campaign account.  Viers was running for election for a seat in the United States House of Representatives, and wanted his competitors to believe that he had a lot of support so they would drop out of the race.  After earning approximately $30,000 in legal fees, Viers returned the remainder of the money to Weaver.
  

On January 21, 2010, BEJ, LLC. was formed and incorporated to conceal the proceeds from the sale of Weaver’s interest in the marina he had previously pledged as collateral to SafeCo.  The marina was sold in February 2010 and Weaver received approximately $501,000.  Weaver laundered these funds through several bank accounts to include a bank account set up in the name BEJ, LLC.  Between May 18, 2010 and July 22, 2010, Weaver withdrew $400,000 from the BEJ, LLC. account of which approximately $375,000 was converted to cashier’s checks and cashed.  This cash was given to Archie Evans in increments which Evans structured into his bank accounts to avoid a regulatory bank filing. 
  

In January 2011, Thaddaeus Viers set up a trust account at Weaver’s request and agreed to have funds wired or deposited into the account by Evans.  Once the funds were credited to the account, Viers contacted the bank to authorize withdrawal of the funds by Weaver.  Each withdrawal authorized by Viers was for $10,000 or more.  Weaver withdrew the funds purchasing numerous cashier’s checks just under the $10,001 regulatory bank filing reporting requirement, ranging from $7,500 to $9,500.  Weaver would then cash these cashier’s checks at various branches and give the currency back to Archie Evans, in increments of $25,000 to $50,000, to structure deposits into Evan’s bank accounts. This cycle of the banking activity was repeated numerous times.  Between 1/21/2011 and 10/3/2011, $692,000 was credited to Vier’s bank account on behalf of Weaver which was sourced by Evans’ bank account.  Of the amount credited, $375,000 was proceeds from the sale of the marina. Weaver hid a total of 1.2 million dollars of assets he had pledged to SafeCo and SafeCo ultimately lost more than 7 million dollars as the result of issuing bonds to Weaver.  Evans was previously sentenced to 7 years imprisonment and Viers is awaiting sentence for his involvement as a coconspirator.
  

The case was investigated by agents of the Internal Revenue Service and the United States Secret Service.  Assistant United States Attorney William E. Day, II of the Columbia office is prosecuting the case.

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