Opinion ID: 707621
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Post-indictment evidence

Text: 58 Golb also objected to the admission of several post-indictment events which were offered only to show that the purchase funds from Air Colombia and Air Caribe were drug proceeds.
59 As discussed above, the government offered the testimony of an FBI agent that reputed drug figure Ricardo Londono attempted to enlist CAMS, a phony airplane brokerage firm operated as a sting by the FBI, to complete the Basler DC-3 deal for Air Colombia after Golb was removed. To the extent that Londono was in fact a drug figure, the fact that Air Colombia turned to him to finish the deal is probative both of Air Colombia's involvement in drug trafficking and of the link between that particular airplane deal and drug trafficking. The evidence was therefore properly admitted to establish that the funds used by Golb in the same deal were drug proceeds. The court instructed the jury that the evidence was only relevant to establishing the drug proceeds element and could not be considered with respect to Golb's state of mind. [5/27/92 RT at 161-62; 5/28/92 RT at 28-29]. There was no error. 60
61 A Drug Enforcement Administration agent testified that in December 1990 he inspected an Aero Commander in Mexico with a serial number matching Aero Commander XBDSA, which as described above was acquired through Morales' and Golb's efforts. The plane had no data plates, a false registration number, and a clandestine fuel system. To the extent that such modifications are indicative of drug smuggling, the evidence tended to prove that the purchaser was involved in drug smuggling and thus that the purchase money came from drug proceeds. The evidence was properly admitted, particularly given the appropriate limiting instructions provided by the district court. 62
63 The district court admitted expert testimony from a Drug Enforcement Administration chemist that cash processed by the Andonian money-laundering organization tested positive for cocaine. The court similarly admitted government testimony that dog sniffs had identified cocaine on money that was to be deposited in an account controlled by the Sharir money-laundering organization. None of the identified funds were traced directly to Air North or Golb, but purchase funds were traced from Golb to these two organizations. That this input cash was tainted with cocaine supports the government's claim that Andonian and Sharir were in the cocaine money-laundering business and thus that the purchase funds were also drug proceeds. 64 Golb contests the reliability of the tests and dog sniffs, and further argues that all money has cocaine on it. The government counters that these were no faint traces (like flour in a bakery shop according to the government's expert [6/2/92 RT at 120-21] and that the chemical tests used were more reliable than previous methods. In any case, in admitting the evidence, the district court did not abuse its discretion or violate Fed.R.Evid. 403, which allows for the exclusion of evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. The defense had its own expert who testified about experiments in which he detected cocaine on innocent sample bills; it was within the jury's province to resolve these competing opinions and determine what weight to accord the government's evidence.