James E. Monroe Jr., Money Laundering, West Virginia 2022

BECKLEY, W.Va. – James E. Monroe Jr., 60, of Daniels, West Virginia, was sentenced to three years of federal probation, including six months on home detention, for money laundering.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on February 25, 2022, Monroe filed a petition for personal bankruptcy. However, he failed to disclose a significant amount of assets, including a collection of over 10,000 sports trading cards, which he sold after filing for bankruptcy without reporting it in the bankruptcy filings.

Monroe admitted that he sold the collection to a friend online to convert the collection into cash and disguise the nature of the resulting proceeds. He also failed to disclose the December 2021 sale of his marital home in the Glade Springs residential development for $525,000, and the existence of a retirement account, two loans he obtained by using the equity associated with his whole-life insurance policy as collateral, and a storage unit he rented in the Shady Spring area that contained property belonging to the bankruptcy estate.

Monroe further admitted that his schedules falsely stated that his then-minor daughter lived with him and was his dependent when neither was true.

United States Attorney Moore Capito commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The United States Trustee’s Charleston field office, which serves West Virginia, made the criminal referral of this case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Chief United States District Judge Frank W. Volk imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan T. Storage prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:24-cr-121.

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