Opinion ID: 707621
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Counts III and IV--Commander XBDSA and Lear Jet N369MJ

Text: 25 Counts III and IV charged Morales and Golb under both the concealment and promotion prongs of the money laundering statute. Acting on behalf of Franco and Air Caribe, Golb's Air North company arranged through Morales and AEI to purchase an Aero Commander with tail number XBDSA. Snyder testified that Morales told him that Franco was a good customer who had a large fleet of Aero Commanders in Colombia and was involved in the drug trade. There was also testimony that Aero Commanders were prized by drug traffickers because of their large payload, long range and ability to fly at high altitudes. 26 The purchase price for XBDSA was $1.1 million. On October 28, 1988, Golb delivered a cashier's check for $761,000 to Morales on behalf of Franco and Air Caribe as an initial payment on the plane. Morales paid Golb $10,000 to make the check out to Jervis Webb, who Morales claimed was a lienholder on the Commander. In fact, Webb was the owner of Lear Jet N369MJ which Morales was attempting to purchase for himself. Because Morales was about to default on his purchase deposit, he used the money from Golb to meet his payment obligations on the Lear Jet and could not purchase the Commander as agreed. 27 In November 1988, Golb began pressuring Morales to produce the Commander. Mark Hough testified that Golb told him two or three times that if Morales did not come up with the airplane, people would come in and shoot everybody in the office and they wouldn't ask who was responsible or who wasn't responsible. [4/15/92 RT at 111-112]. According to Hough, Morales responded to these threats by saying: Don't worry. They're just a bunch of Mafia people, and I have my own Mafia in Mexico if they come to hurt us. We'll--we can handle them. [4/15/92 RT at 113]. Snyder testified that Morales eventually acquired the Commander for Franco by selling a Lear Jet out of inventory at a loss of $250,000. 28 Both Morales and Golb challenge the sufficiency of the evidence connecting the purchase funds for the Commander to drug trafficking. The government's evidence was, however, more than sufficient. First, the government traced Air North's payments to AEI back to accounts fed by the Andonian and Sharir money laundering organizations. The evidence detailing the nature of these operations was more than ample for the jury to find that they existed to launder drug proceeds. Large volumes of low-denomination cash--found by dogs and chemists to be tainted with large amounts of cocaine--were delivered in duffle bags by men with beepers according to prearranged codes. The money was then used to purchase gold in unprofitable circular transactions producing checks or wire transfers to Panamanian, Mexican or Colombian banks. 29 In addition to this direct evidence of the nature of the proceeds, a DEA inspector testified that XBDSA was found in Mexico in December 1990 with no data plates, a false registration number, and a clandestine fuel system, all consistent with its use in drug smuggling. 30 Golb challenges the government's evidence establishing the other required elements of the money-laundering charge, but these claims also fail. A jury could well have concluded from Golb's violent threats to Morales' employees that he was not representing legitimate businessmen. Golb's close relationship to his brother-in-law Franco, who according to Morales' statements to AEI employees was heavily involved in drug trafficking was additional evidence from which a reasonable jury could have concluded that Golb must have known of the source of the funds. Finally, the fact that the purchase funds came to Golb in the farm of multiple anonymous wire transfers from various banks in Panama and the United States and from bundles of checks drawn on different accounts, none in the name of Air Caribe or Franco, supports both Golb's knowledge of, and intent to conceal, the source of these funds. Golb claimed that the convoluted payment methods were only used to avoid Colombian currency exportation laws, but the jury did not have to accept his explanation. 31 Golb also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence that he intended to promote drug trafficking, but the jury reasonably could have concluded that Golb, a self-professed airplane expert, appreciated the Aero Commander's utility for drug trafficking as delineated by the government's expert. The jury thus reasonably could have concluded that Golb intended both to hide and to facilitate his brother-in-law's continued use of such planes for drug trafficking.