Opinion ID: 786186
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Federal Indictment and Criminal Trial

Text: 13 A few days earlier, on June 1, 2001, a federal grand jury sitting in the Southern District of Florida returned a sealed indictment charging Ms. Collazos, Ms. Ortiz, and Lucia Ramirez, an assistant to Ms. Ortiz at BankAtlantic, with conspiracy to commit money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h). The indictment also sought criminal forfeiture pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 982(a)(1) of $144,281,503, the total amount allegedly laundered during the conspiracy. The indictment specifically noted that this amount includes but is not limited to the contents of Account No. 68108[0]21 held in the name of Stella Collazos located at Prudential Securities, Inc., i.e., the $1.1 million then at issue in the New York civil forfeiture proceeding. United States v. Ortiz, No. 01-0539 (S.D.Fla. Jun. 1, 2001) (Indictment). The Florida indictment was unsealed on August 13, 2001, and the following day, government counsel in the New York action sought and eventually obtained a stay of the civil forfeiture trial to permit the filing of a motion pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2466 to dismiss Ms. Collazos's claim. 14 In October 2001, an attorney purporting to act for Ms. Collazos contacted the prosecutor in the Southern District of Florida and inquired whether the government would consent to Ms. Collazos's pre-trial release if she voluntarily surrendered in the criminal case. The prosecutor declined to consent to the proposal, and Ms. Collazos did not appear in the United States when trial commenced on December 6, 2001. Two weeks later, on December 19, 2001, Ms. Ortiz was found guilty and subsequently sentenced to 240 months' incarceration. 15 In proving the conspiracy against Ms. Ortiz, the prosecution adduced considerable evidence inculpating Ms. Collazos. The district court cited excerpts from the Ortiz trial transcript in its ruling in this case. For example, Rubin Dario Roascos-Mendez, a former employee of Ms. Collazos, testified to the different commissions charged by her to launder money. See United States v. Contents of Account Number 68108021, 228 F.Supp.2d at 441. Lucia Ramirez, who had pleaded guilty before trial pursuant to a plea agreement, testified that on or about May 31, 1996, she wired $657,000 out of BankAtlantic accounts controlled by Ms. Collazos to Europe, then back to BankAtlantic, and then to New York in order to help conceal the money and to avoid its seizure by investigators. Id. at 442. Based on its overall review of the Ortiz trial, the district court found that the evidence demonstrated that Collazos laundered narcotics proceeds through her money remitting businesses and through accounts she and Piedad Ortiz managed at BankAtlantic. Furthermore, it is clear that the defendant-in-rem funds are directly traceable to that same money laundering scheme. Id. 16