Opinion ID: 588163
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Marriott Meeting

Text: 10 On August 28, 1987, Swindall, LeChasney, and Agent Mullaney met at the Marriott Hotel in Atlanta. The government secretly videotaped the meeting. Swindall told Agent Mullaney that, because of changes in the tax laws, he was no longer interested in selling the note, but he was interested in obtaining a loan. Agent Mullaney--mentioning nothing about Colombian drug dealers--told Swindall that he represented South American investors who wished to dispose of cash, hide their assets, and conceal their identities. He informed Swindall that any deal would be in cash. 11 Swindall stated that he was interested in a mortgage loan and suggested a scheme whereby LeChasney would form a mortgage company, secretly funded by the agent's investors, that would lend Swindall money. Swindall would sign the million-dollar note over to LeChasney's newly formed corporation, which the agent's investors would eventually purchase. The advantages of this scheme included that (1) Swindall could have use of the money without realizing an immediately taxable gain from sale of the note; (2) the investors could anonymously dispose of their cash; and (3) Swindall could point to LeChasney's corporation as the source of the loan and deny that he had ever made a deal with Agent Mullaney. 12 Although the deal would be made to appear to be a mortgage loan from LeChasney to Swindall, Swindall and the undercover agent negotiated the price of the actual deal--a sale of the note for cash. They discussed a price in the range of $850,000, which was $80,000 higher than the present value of the note. 13 Swindall asked why he could not simply deposit the cash in a bank in one lump sum. Agent Mullaney explained that currency transaction report forms (CTRs or bank forms) would require, inter alia, that Swindall reveal the source of the funds, which would be unacceptable to the agent's investors. It was therefore imperative that the bank forms either not be filed or be filed falsely. LeChasney--who was to receive a large commission from the deal--informed Swindall that it would take him at least three weeks to convert such a large amount of cash into cashier's checks without triggering the currency-reporting requirements. No agreement was reached because, among other reasons, Swindall refused to accept delivery of the cash personally, and neither Swindall nor the undercover agent was willing to assume the risk of loss during the three weeks required to convert the cash into cashier's checks.