‘Smurfing’ Sends CU Member ToJail

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - (02/24/06) – A local business man wassentenced to 24 months in prison and fined $20,000 in a moneylaundering case for structuring cash deposits under $10,000 toavoid federal disclosure requirements–a practice known assmurfing. Jean Lataillade, 45, admitted to structuring 31 cashdeposits totaling $255,990 to accounts at Kinecta FCU and Bank ofAmerica in amounts below $10,000 in an effort to prevent currencytransaction reports from being filed with the Internal RevenueService. Prosecutors said Lataillade received several secret cashpayments made to him as a sales executive for an internationaltelecommunications company. Under a plea agreement, Lattailladeagreed to forfeit $59,400 and file amended income tax returns toreport an additional $255,990.