Md. jeweler gets three years for money laundering

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Md. jeweler gets three years for money laundering

October 21, 2009

Baltimore--Eugene Petasky, owner of Metro Brokers Jewelers in Pikesville, Md., was sentenced to 41 months in prison and five years supervised release after being convicted of conspiracy to launder drug proceeds, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Baltimore.

According to Petasky's plea agreement, as detailed in the release, the 58-year-old Petaksy knowingly accepted at least $336,000 in cash from drug traffickers in exchange for jewelry while operating his store between the time period of at least 1982 through Nov. 27, 2006.

The store, which was most recently located on Reisterstown Road in Pikesville, Md., was previously operating on Eutaw Street in Baltimore.

Petasky, a Baltimore resident, knew the money he accepted was the proceeds of drug trafficking and knowingly helped the drug dealers who repeatedly used drug sale proceeds to buy jewelry in an effort to disguise their illicit revenues, prosecutors said in the release.

In addition, the release states that Petasky intentionally concealed the nature of those transactions by failing to file required tax forms with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and by structuring certain transactions to make them appear legitimate.

For example, the release states, on May 24, 2006, as part of the IRS investigation at the jewelry store, Petasky accepted $12,500 in cash from an undercover IRS agent in exchange for jewelry. He did the same again on Aug. 24, 2006, accepting $23,500 in cash from the undercover agent that time, believing in both instances that the agent was a drug dealer from Tennessee using money from drug-trafficking activity.

Even though both transactions involved more than $10,000 in cash, Petasky knowingly failed to file the required IRS Form 8300 to document the transactions. According to the IRS, any businesses that receive more than $10,000 in cash from one buyer as a result of a single transaction or two or more related transactions, must file Form 8300.

"The laundering of funds is an avenue used by individuals to conceal the true source of their money," C. Andre Martin, IRS-criminal investigation special agent in charge, stated in the release. "Money laundering is fuel for criminals to conduct their criminal affairs and manipulate and erode our financial systems."

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Md. jeweler gets three years for money laundering

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