Opinion ID: 588163
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Further Discussions

Text: 14 The government then closed its investigation of Swindall as he had not indicated an intention to evade his taxes. On September 3, however, the government reopened the investigation, this time with regard to money-laundering and transaction-structuring violations, because LeChasney had advised Agent Mullaney that Swindall was now willing to accept the cash personally. LeChasney informed the agent that Swindall was in immediate need of $100,000 because of the cost overruns on his home. Swindall's increasingly pressing need for funds eventually resulted in the inclusion of an advance payment of $150,000 in the proposed deal. 15 During the course of negotiations, Agent Mullaney spoke several times on the telephone with LeChasney and occasionally with Swindall. The agent recorded these conversations. On September 7, Swindall related to the agent his fear that the cash came from drug sales. The agent responded that he had been told the cash was flight capital, but that he could not guarantee the source. He told Swindall that the specter of drugs is there, but that he personally was not involved in selling drugs. The agent also told Swindall that some of the manipulations ... with the cash may well be illegal in and of themselves, especially in light of the reporting requirements for transactions in excess of $10,000. Swindall stated that it was his position that he would be borrowing money from LeChasney and he had no knowledge or interest in how LeChasney obtained his funds. In other words, Swindall was protected because he could deposit checks from LeChasney's corporation and, when depositing them, truthfully state their direct source. As part of the actual deal, however, Swindall agreed to accept delivery of the cash and to tender a secret document acknowledging his assignment of the note to Agent Mullaney. The parties agreed that Swindall would sign this document in the agent's presence. 16 Agent Mullaney testified that up until that point, his ability to inform Swindall that the cash came from illegal sources was hampered by LeChasney's attempts to mislead Swindall about the legality of the deal. While the agent's objective was to investigate whether Swindall was willing to participate in money-laundering transactions, LeChasney was eager, if not desperate, to receive the sizeable commission that would come from the completed deal. The agent testified that he wanted to inform Swindall of the source of the funds at their next face-to-face meeting, with LeChasney present, so that LeChasney could not continue falsely to assure Swindall that the cash was flight capital. Throughout the later negotiations, as Swindall stated that he could not directly participate in a deal involving the proceeds of drug sales, LeChasney continued to assure him that the money was clean, while the undercover agent continued to state, with widely varying degrees of certainty, that drugs were probably involved.