Court Opinion

ID: 8409927
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-02 17:14:55.461074+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:47:44.175480
License: Public Domain

W. EUGENE DAVIS, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
Because I am persuaded that the government proved the concealment prong of the money laundering offense in this case, I dissent from majority opinion.
The issue boils down to whether the government produced sufficient evidence to allow the jury to find that the defendant was knowingly transporting the funds (drug proceeds) under a plan designed at least in part “to conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership, or the control of the proceeds of specified unlawful activity.” 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(B)(i). The majority opinion concludes, and I agree, that the government offered sufficient evidence to establish that the money was proceeds of drug trafficking and that Cuellar knew that. The government also proved that the defendant knowingly concealed the money in the vehicle and intended to deliver the funds to Mexico. Based on the plain language of the statute, once the government produced evidence that allowed the jury to find these facts, the concealment element was established.
The jury could have found concealment on several levels. First, there was an *335overall plan or design (in which Cuellar was an integral part) to surreptitiously move cash proceeds of drug sales from the United States to Mexico. The expert on drug trafficking organizations testified that this was the standard modus operandi of such organizations. On another level, this plan in which Cuellar participated, effectively removed the funds from the kingpin’s hands and concealed his ownership and control of the funds. The removal of the funds and concealment of the owner of the funds also served to remove incriminating evidence from the possession of the kingpin and avoided possible government confiscation of the cash. The surreptitious movement of these funds to Mexico as part of the cycle of the drug trade was, of course, necessary because unlike a legitimate businessman, the drug kingpin could not go to the bank, deposit the funds and wire the money to his supplier in Mexico. The concealed movement of the funds was an integral part of the business of the drug enterprise. Also, and at its most basic level, Cuellar’s method of carrying out his mission described above included hiding or concealing the funds in his vehicle and surrounding the money with animal hair to conceal the fund’s location from drug dogs.
Other circuits have found on facts similar to ours that the government established the concealment prong of the money laundering statute. In United States v. Hurtado, 38 Fed.Appx. 661 (2d Cir.2002) (unpublished), Hurtado challenged the sufficiency of the evidence to support her conviction for international money laundering. The evidence showed that she, along with two other adults and three children, were stopped as they crossed the border from the U.S. to Canada. Upon a search of her minivan, agents found several bags of luggage containing $540,000. Drug dogs alerted to two of the bags which contained the largest sums of money. The government presented testimony of customs agents regarding methods used by drug cartels to exchange large quantities of drugs for cash using couriers and how money was customarily packaged. The funds in the minivan were packaged in a manner consistent with their testimony. The record evidence also reflected that Hurtado lied about her employment and had no legitimate explanation for the source of the cash or its destination. Based on this record the court concluded that a rational jury could find all the essential elements of the money laundering offense.
In United States v. Carr, 25 F.3d 1194 (3d Cir.1994), the following evidence was found sufficient to satisfy the concealment prong of the statute: before departing on a trip from Philadelphia to Colombia, Carr received a blue carry-on bag from Gonzalez (the kingpin of the conspiracy); when asked to declare any monetary instruments in excess of $10,000, he stated that he had only $4,000 in cash; a search revealed $180,000 in cash hidden in containers in the bag and $6,000 on Carr’s person; Carr told a highly suspicious, “if not incredible,” story about the source and destination of the funds. The facts of our case are not materially different from those in Hurtado or Carr and in my view satisfy the concealment element of the international money laundering statute.
United States v. Olaniyi-Oke, 199 F.3d 767 (5th Cir.1999), the case relied on by the majority, is not inconsistent with this result. Olaniyi-Oke involved a transaction in which the defendant used a fraudulently obtained credit card issued in the name of the victim to purchase two computers. This court found that the transactions were engaged in for present personal benefit and not to create the appearance of legitimate wealth, so they did not satisfy the concealment prong of the money laundering statute. In other words, the straightforward use of a credit card to *336make a purchase does not satisfy the concealment element of the offense.
We are not dealing with a defendant’s straightforward purchase of goods with a stolen or fraudulently obtained credit card. The government established in this case that the defendant purposefully concealed drug proceeds and was transporting them to Mexico in a manner consistent with drug trafficking patterns for the region. Under these facts, it is clear to me that the jury could easily find that the defendant knew “that such transportation, transmission, or transfer is designed in whole or in part ... to conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership, or the control of the proceeds of specified unlawful activity” as is required for conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(B)(i). As set forth above, the Second and Third Circuits dealing with factual situations substantially similar to these have found this concealment element satisfied.
Based on the plain language of the statute and the decisions of other circuits discussed above, I would affirm Cuellar’s conviction. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.