Maxito Pean, Money Laundering, California 2016

A San Jose man has been sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay $233,200 in restitution for money laundering, announced United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch.

Maxito Pean, 52, who is from Haiti and had been residing in Florida, pleaded guilty on February 24, 2016, to one count of engaging in monetary transactions using criminally derived property.

Pean, who was sentenced by the Honorable Lucy H. Koh, U.S. District Judge, admitted to recruiting people to open two bank accounts for the purpose of receiving proceeds of criminal activity. He arranged for a homeless man from Florida to open a bank account in Lauderhill, Florida, in the name of ‘Southeastern Capital Group, Inc.’

Pean also arranged for a person to open an account in the name of ‘Meade Financial Services.’ He acknowledged he intended to use those accounts to receive and transfer the funds in a way he hoped would not be traceable back to him.

Further, according to the plea agreement, Pean admitted an unknown person fraudulently caused an employee at Deutsche Bank in San Francisco to transfer $233,200 from a victim’s bank account to one of the accounts controlled by Pean. Pean admitted that the money was, in fact, the proceeds of wire fraud committed against the victim of an email takeover scam.

Pean was indicted on October 29, 2014, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, engaging in monetary transactions using the proceeds of specified unlawful activity, and aiding and abetting.

In addition to the prison term and restitution, Judge Koh also sentenced the defendant to a 3-year period of supervised release.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Frey prosecuted the case with the assistance of Elise Etter. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the IRS and the Regional Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) task force.

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