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Demarest: Yacht dealer money laundering conviction upheld

By Tim Cone

In U.S. v. Demarest, No. 08-12296 (June 10, 2009), the Court affirmed money-laundering convictions and sentences for a yacht dealer who agreed to sell a yacht for cash to undercover agents posing as narcotics traffickers.The Court found that the jury reasonably rejected Demarest?s defense that he was intoxicated when he agreed to the deal. Demarest mental efforts "suggest that he was not so drunk that he did not know what was happening."The Court also found that the jury reasonably rejected the entrapment defense. The evidence overwhelmingly established Demarest?s predisposition. "It is hard to imagine a more enthusiastic money launderer."The Court rejected Demarest?s argument, based on the Supreme Court?s recent decision U.S. v. Santos, that he did not launder "proceeds" of illegal activity, because the moneys at issue were the "receipts" from the sale of a yacht, not profits...continue to full post

Full post as published by Defense Newsletter Blog on June 15, 2009 (boomark / email).