California Money Laundering Lawyer

What Is Money Laundering?

Money laundering is concealing the origin of illegally obtained funds to make them appear legitimately obtained. This includes money obtained through drug trafficking, extortion, robbery, prostitution, and other activities prohibited through federal law. Money laundering is considered a white-collar crime, like tax fraud or healthcare services fraud. Most money laundering cases are considered federal criminal offenses; convictions may include large fines and long prison sentences.

Even if you are a first-time offender with no criminal record, it is important to take money laundering accusations seriously. You can be charged for money laundering as a stand-alone crime, or as an inchoate offense alongside other criminal charges. Money laundering charges are rarely straightforward, and often require extensive legal defense proceedings. According to CA Penal Code § 186.10 (2023), money laundering contains the following elements:

• The defendant must have completed the transaction(s) through a financial institution;
• The total amount of the transaction(s) must be more than $5,000 in a seven-day period (OR $25,000+ within 30 days); and
• The transaction(s) must have been made with the “intent to promote criminal activity,” i.e., the defendant must have known that financial deposits were from criminal activity.

Under California state law, money laundering is either a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the seriousness of the crime. Anti-money laundering laws have been established; small and large businesses alike are expected to abide by these rules. Failure to comply may be considered a federal offense.

Money Laundering Penalties In California

Money laundering activities are considered federal criminal offenses and carry severe penalties. The Money Laundering Control Act (1986) established a strict code of conduct for law enforcement; in pursuit of evidence to confirm a federal crime, federal agents may be authorized to request bank statements, subpoena employees, and even wiretap your phone under certain circumstances. As a federal criminal offense, money laundering comes with significant penalties. The maximum federal penalties for laundering is 20 years in prison, with fines of up to $500,000,000 OR twice the amount that was laundered, whichever is greater. California Penal Code stipulates other specifics that may come into play with your case.

The maximum federal penalties for money laundering is 20 years in prison, and fines of $500,000,000 or twice the amount of money laundered, whichever is more.

Additional punishments may include forfeiture of personal property, civil penalties, restitution, and mandatory compliance with a federal supervision program following imprisonment. Your federal criminal defense lawyer will be able to explain the extent of the potential penalties as they apply to your case.

Contact A California Money Laundering Defense Lawyer: (619) 794-0451.

Speak to a Money Laundering Lawyer Now: (619) 794-0451.

Common Types of Money Laundering

Money laundering methods involve various stages and techniques to obscure the origins of the money, making it difficult for authorities to trace the illicit funds back to their source. Money laundering can vary widely from case to case, but some of the most common types are:

• Smurfing (Structuring): Perhaps the most common form of money laundering. Smurfing involves breaking down large amounts of money into smaller, less suspicious amounts that are then deposited or withdrawn.
• Third-Party Money Launderers: Hiring individuals or organizations that specialize in moving and laundering money on behalf of criminals. One needn’t be the individual completing the transaction to be implicated in a money laundering scheme.
• Trade-Based Laundering: Disguising illicit funds through trade transactions, often by manipulating invoices or misrepresenting the quantity or quality of goods. It exploits international trade complexities, making it challenging for authorities to detect and prevent illegal financial flows.
• Cash-Intensive Businesses: Using businesses that handle large volumes of cash (like restaurants, bars, or casinos) to mix illicit money with legitimate earnings. Businesses that customarily include tips may also be implicated in this type of scheme.
• Shell Companies and Trusts: Setting up companies that exist only on paper to disguise the ownership and control of funds. Also a common scheme in avoiding capital gains tax and other expenses related to the transfer of intergenerational wealth.
• Real Estate Laundering: Purchasing real estate with illicit funds, sometimes at inflated prices, then selling the property to legitimize the money. Real estate schemes often involve several people at different stages of the transaction.
• Casino Laundering: Buying chips with dirty money, gambling a bit, then cashing out to receive “clean” money. Using casinos to launder money by purchasing chips with illicit funds, gambling a small amount, and then cashing out the remaining chips for a check from the casino, making it appear as legitimate gambling winnings
• Bank Capture: Gaining control of a financial institution to facilitate the movement and concealment of illicit funds. This high-level form of money laundering can leave hundreds of millions of dollars-or more-unaccounted for.
• Foreign Investment/Offshore Accounts: Moving illicit funds into foreign investments, making it harder to trace. Most countries, including the United States, have contingency plans for work with foreign entities to trace the movement of money and determine its source.
• Cryptocurrency Laundering: Using digital currencies to move and conceal funds: a relatively uninvolved task because of the anonymity and decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies. The use of cryptocurrency must follow the same rules as other forms of currency.
• Hawala and Other Informal Value Transfer Systems: Transferring money without the physical movement of currency, often through trust-based networks and personal connections. Widely used in regions with limited access to formal banking services, hawala prevents a potential risk for illicit activities.

Data shows that almost 20% of all reportable income is improperly reported to the IRS. According to the United States Sentencing Commission, more than 400 tax fraud offenders were sentenced in 2022; about 70% were sentenced to prison, with an average term of 16 months.

More than 85% of those convicted of tax fraud had little or no criminal history.

Even as a first offense, tax evasion is a serious accusation. Regardless of your criminal history or any intention to underpay, you may be changed and sentenced in a way that disrupts your entire life and tarnishes your reputation. Underreporting income for any reason-overstating deductions, or failing to file tax returns, or a simple math error-can result in severe penalties. This includes hefty fines, asset forfeiture, and imprisonment.

Read more: Quick Facts on Tax Fraud Offenses (USSC, 2020)

Our experienced tax fraud defense attorneys understand the intricacies of tax law-and the aggressive tactics used by the IRS and state tax authorities. We work diligently to investigate your case, identify weaknesses in the prosecution’s evidence, and develop a strong defense strategy aimed at minimizing or dismissing your charges.

Speak to a Tax Fraud Attorney Now 619-794-0451

What kind of crimes are considered tax evasion/tax fraud in California?

California has a strict definition of tax fraud, and the state takes these charges seriously. According to Ca. Rev. and Tax. Code, Revenue and Taxation Code §19706:

“Any person or any officer or employee of any corporation who … willfully fails to file any return or to supply any information with intent to evade any tax … or who … makes, renders, signs, or verifies any false or fraudulent return or statement or supplies any false or fraudulent information, is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or in the state prison, or by fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment… (Ca. Rev. and Tax. Code § 19706).”

Tax fraud accusations can arise in a number of ways. Common types of tax fraud include, in brief:

• Underreporting Income: Failing to report all income earned, such as wages, tips, or earnings from self-employment, to avoid paying taxes on the full amount. This also includes concealing money or assets in offshore accounts or other means to avoid detection by tax authorities.
• Overstating Deductions: Claiming false deductions, inflating legitimate deductions, or reporting non-existent business expenses or personal expenses as business expenses to lower taxable income.
• Filing False Returns: Submitting tax returns with false information, such as incorrect income or deduction amounts. This includes using incorrect Social Security numbers or using stolen identities to file tax returns.
• Engaging in Illegal Financial Schemes: Participating in illegal financial schemes that generate unreported income, such as money laundering or cash businesses that do not report all transactions, as well as investing in or creating tax shelters that exploit loopholes in the tax system.
• Misreporting Employment Status: Misclassifying employees as independent contractors to avoid paying employment taxes such as Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Employment Training Tax (ETT).
• Manipulating Records or Books: Keeping two sets of financial records or altering books to understate income and overstate expenses. This also includes creating false documents or altering genuine documents to support fraudulent tax claims.

Serious accusations like tax fraud require a strong legal defense team. Call McKenzie Scott PC today to learn how we can help: (619) 794-0451.

California Healthcare Fraud Attorney

“Healthcare fraud” refers to deceptive practices in the healthcare industry intended to gain unauthorized benefits, often financial in nature. It involves the intentional submission of false or misleading information to obtain reimbursement from health insurance providers, notably with government healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

Healthcare fraud is a serious accusation. If you have been accused of healthcare fraud, an investigation against you is likely already underway; this may include CPAs, private investigators, and forensic accountants hired by the government to investigate you.

Now is the time to act decisively and hire a defense attorney to advocate on your behalf. Prompt action is the best defense.

Speak to a Healthcare Fraud Attorney Now: (619) 794-0451.

What kind of crimes are considered healthcare fraud?

Any kind of practice that resulted in unauthorized payment or benefits through healthcare services constitutes healthcare fraud. This includes, but may not be limited to:

• CARES Act/PPP Loan Fraud: Misrepresentation of one’s business and/or misappropriation of acquired funds distributed through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020.
• Billing for Services Not Rendered: Charging for medical services, tests, or procedures that were never actually provided to the patient.
• Overbilling: Charging more than the actual cost of a service or product. This includes upcoding (billing for a more expensive service than the one actually performed), unbundling (submitting multiple bills for the same service)
• Kickbacks: Receiving or giving anything of value to influence the referral of healthcare services or products.
• Falsifying Diagnoses: Deliberately misrepresenting a patient’s diagnosis to justify tests, surgeries, or other procedures that are not medically necessary.
• Duplicate Claims: Submitting multiple claims for the same service.
• Prescription Fraud: Forging or altering prescriptions or obtaining medications through deception, whether to take or to sell.
• False Cost Reports: Misrepresenting costs on expense reports submitted to government programs.
• Non-Eligible Services: Billing for services or items that are not covered by the patient’s health insurance.

California Cybercrimes Attorney

In an era when screens dominate our daily lives, cybercrimes are a growing concern-and federal law enforcement is intensifying their efforts to crack down on these offenses. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency may call upon cybersecurity experts, forensic accountants, and private investigators to pursue a claim against you. Conviction for a cybercrime may include large financial penalties and imprisonment.

Cybercrimes encompass a number of criminal offenses, from hacking and identity theft to online fraud, unauthorized access to computer systems, and felony convictions involving national security. Many California cybercrime cases involve confounding factors: multi-jurisdictional issues, technological complexities, government involvement, high-profile lawsuit parties, highly sensitive data, and/or significant theft (in excess of $50,000).

No matter the circumstance, our cybercrimes criminal defense attorneys possess both the knowledge of the law and of the technology involved to defend your rights and protect your future.

Speak to a Cybercrime Attorney Now: (619) 794-0451.

What is cybercrime?

According to the State of California Department of Justice’s Cybercrimes Investigation & Prosecution Guidelines:

“High technology crimes [cybercrimes] are those crimes in which technology is used as an instrumentality in committing or is the target of a crime. Examples include: computer intrusions, internet fraud, scams or white-collar crimes committed by means of electronic media, money laundering via cryptocurrency or electronic transfer, organized retail crimes involving significant digital evidence, cyberstalking, cyberextortion or cyberexploitation.”

What are common examples of cybercrimes in California?

• Phishing: Fraudulent attempts to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by disguising as a trustworthy entity in electronic communications.
• Malware/Ransom Attacks: The use of malicious software to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorized access to computer systems. This includes viruses, worms, Trojan horses, ransomware, and spyware.
• Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks: Attacks that flood a network or competing website with excessive traffic, rendering it unusable.
• Cryptojacking: Unauthorized use of someone else’s computer to mine cryptocurrency. Victims’ systems are exploited for processing power without their knowledge.
• Espionage: Unauthorized access to confidential information for political, military, or financial gain, often involving government or corporate secrets.
• Identity Theft/Fraud: Stealing someone’s personal information to commit fraud, such as opening credit accounts or making unauthorized transactions. This also includes obtaining money or property by deceiving individuals or organizations (generally banking or financial institutions).
• Social Engineering: Manipulating people into divulging confidential information. This can be achieved through various methods, including phishing and pretexting.
• Online Scams: Fraudulent schemes that deceive individuals into providing money or sensitive information. Common examples include lottery scams, romance scams, and tech support scams.
• Child Exploitation: Distribution and production of child pornography, as well as luring minors for illicit purposes through online platforms.
• Intellectual Property Theft: Stealing proprietary information, such as trade secrets, designs, and software, often through hacking or unauthorized access.

High-technology crimes require a high-caliber legal defense. At McKenzie Scott PC, we bring a wealth of expertise to every cybercrime case. Call us today for a free case consultation: (619) 794-0451

Honest Services Fraud Attorney

In 1988, Congress added a single sentence, § 1346, to the federal mail and wire fraud statute, Title 18 U.S.C. Chapter 63: “the term ‘scheme or artifice to defraud’ includes a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.” This has come to be known as honest services fraud, and expanded mail fraud law to include a wider variety of crimes.

What is Honest Services Fraud?


According to Title 18 U.S. Code 1346, honest services fraud is a “scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.” This may include a violation of fiduciary duty, including bribery or kickbacks, in addition to the misuse of a person’s position or authority for personal gain (for example, using another person’s bank account).

If you’re convicted of honest services fraud-illegal activity involving mail fraud, wire fraud, health care fraud, or similar-we strongly encourage you to take your case seriously. Penalties can include restitution, punitive damages, and up to 20 years in prison.

Read More: Honest Service Fraud Sentencing Guidelines (USSC)

Speak to an Honest Services Fraud Attorney Now: (619) 794-0451.