United States v. $2,000,000.00 in U.S. Currency

906 F. Supp. 2d 1260, 2012 WL 5995412, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174618
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedDecember 3, 2012
DocketCase No. 6:12-cv-1279-Orl-18KRS
StatusPublished

This text of 906 F. Supp. 2d 1260 (United States v. $2,000,000.00 in U.S. Currency) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. $2,000,000.00 in U.S. Currency, 906 F. Supp. 2d 1260, 2012 WL 5995412, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174618 (M.D. Fla. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER

G. KENDALL SHARP, Senior District Judge.

THIS CAUSE comes for consideration on Claimant Prodira Casa de Cambio S.A. de C.V.’s (“Prodira”) Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint (Doc. 20) to which the United States responded in opposition (Doc. 23). The Court has reviewed the motions and memoranda filed by Prodira and the United States, and Prodira’s motion will be denied.

I. BACKGROUND

The United States alleges that Prodira is a financial services company based in Guadalupe, Zacatecas, Mexico. (Doc. 17 at 5.) As part of its business, Prodira provides currency exchange services for its customers. (Id.) Alongside its legitimate business, Prodira has allegedly laundered money for Mexican drug trafficking operations (“DTO”) since at least January 2010. (Id.) The flow of narcotics and funds between the DTOs and Prodira follows a typical pattern for laundering drug proceeds: (1) narcotics are smuggled into the United States from Mexico; (2) narcotics are sold for United States currency; (3) U.S. currency is smuggled from the United States to Mexico; (4) Prodira brings the U.S. currency back into the United States in its own name; (5) Prodira deposits the U.S. currency into bank accounts based in the United States belonging to a third party chosen by Prodira; and (6) the third party sends funds from its own account to various banks around the world. (Id. at 4-5.) In this case, Prodira followed the pattern described above, except the third party was an undercover business (“UCB”) established by law enforcement agents and run by an undercover agent who posed as an associate of several Colombian DTOs. (Id. at 6.)

The undercover agent planned, with the self-proclaimed owner of Prodira, Filemon Garcia Alaya, to accept and deposit U.S. currency into the UCB’s account after it was flown into the United States from Mexico and delivered to a bank by armored truck. (Id. at 5-6.) After charging a fee of approximately 0.3%, the undercov[1262]*1262er agent would wire the funds to accounts designated by Alaya. (Id. at 6.) The United States alleges that there was no legitimate business reason for conducting these transactions in such a circuitous manner. (Id.)

Alaya and the undercover agent made nine separate deposits, totaling to $4,030,000.00, into the UCB’s account between November 10, 2011 and December 9, 2011. (Id. at 7.) After each of these deposits, the undercover agent would initiate wire transfers (at various bank branches located within this judicial district) to Deutsche Bank, which would in turn credit Prodira’s account with Banco Multiva, a Mexican bank. (Id.) Each time Prodira brought U.S. currency back into the United States, it was required to complete a Report of International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments (“CMIR”). See 31 U.S.C. § 5316. Despite depositing money into the UCB’s account several times, Prodira identified the UCB as the beneficiary of the funds on only one CMIR that it filed and it misidentified the amount on that form. (Doc. 17 at 7-8.)

On February 2, 2012, the undercover agent informed Alaya that he received a “promotion” and that a second person, also an undercover agent, would replace the first undercover agent as the person to work with Alaya. (Id. at 9.) During the same conversation, Alaya stated that he wanted the undercover agent to handle $2 million for him. (Id.) On January 5, 2012, Prodira imported $2 million in U.S. currency, the defendant funds in this case, to McAllen, Texas by way of a private aircraft. (Id.) On the CMIR, the pilot, Francisco Esparza Campos,1 listed the UCB as the beneficiary of the currency and included a deposit slip for the UCB’s bank account. (Id. at 9-10.) On February 8, 2012, the undercover agent informed Alaya that United States Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) contacted him regarding the status of the defendant funds that were then being held in at a Transvalue vault in Miami, Florida on behalf of Prodira. (Id. at 10.) On the same day, Esparza contacted CBP in an attempt to redirect the defendant funds away from the UCB to another beneficiary. (Id.)

Sometime between February 8, 2012 and March 5, 2012, the defendant funds were transported to a Rochester Armored Car facility in Pharr, Texas. (Id. at 11.) On March 5, 2012, United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement seized the defendant funds, pursuant to a warrant, from the Rochester Armored Car facility. (Id.) A K-9 from the Pharr Police Department positively alerted to the currency, indicating that the currency had recently been in close proximity to a significant amount of a controlled substance. (Id.)

The United States brought its Amended Verified Complaint seeking in rem forfeiture of the defendant funds. Prodira now moves to dismiss the United States’ Amended Verified Complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

II. ANALYSIS

The United States and Prodira dispute the proper application of the pleading standard for an in rem forfeiture proceeding brought pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 881(a)(6).2 Rule G(8)(b)(ii), which gov[1263]*1263erns motions to dismiss forfeiture actions, directs that “[t]he sufficiency of the complaint is governed by Rule G(2).” Rule G(2)(f) of the Supplemental Rules for Admiralty or Maritime Claims and Asset Forfeiture Actions requires that a complaint “state sufficiently detailed facts to support a reasonable belief that the government will be able to meet its burden of proof at trial.” At trial, the United States will have the initial burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the property is subject to forfeiture. See 18 U.S.C. § 983(c)(1). However, “[n]o complaint may be dismissed on the ground that the Government did not have adequate evidence at the time the complaint was filed to establish the forfeitability of the property.” 18 U.S.C. § 983(a)(3)(D); Rule G(8)(b)(i). Rule G “is plainly written and ‘means precisely what it says.’” United States v. Mondragon, 313 F.3d 862, 865 (4th Cir.2002)3 (quoting United States v. $38,000 Dollars in U.S. Currency, 816 F.2d 1538, 1548 (11th Cir.1987)).

Here, the United States, through its Amended Verified Complaint, sets forth sufficient facts to support a reasonable belief that it will be able to meet its burden at trial. First, the United States alleges that Prodira transferred the defendant funds in a circuitous fashion that served no discernible legitimate business purpose; instead, the transactions followed the typical pattern of a Mexican DTO attempting to launder drug proceeds. See United States v. $242,484.00,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
906 F. Supp. 2d 1260, 2012 WL 5995412, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174618, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-200000000-in-us-currency-flmd-2012.