wmlro.com: USA charges Canadian resident for lying in account opening information
The US Federal Authorities have charged Canadian resident Douglas Rennick with bank fraud and other cases relating to his business which allegedly processed payments for on-line gambling outlets. They say that he said US bank accounts would be used for one purpose but in fact they were used for another.
According to prosecutors, since at least 2007 through June 2009, Rennick opened a number of bank accounts in the United States under various corporate names, such as KJB Financial Corporation, Account Services Corporation and Check Payment Financial Co.
When he opened the accounts, prosecutors say, he and his co-conspirators falsely represented that the accounts would be used for such purposes as issuing rebate cheques, refund cheques, sponsorship cheques, affiliate cheques and minor payroll processing.
In fact, it is alleged, Rennick and his co-conspirators used the accounts to receive funds from offshore Internet gambling companies that offered, variously, poker, blackjack, slots and other casino games. Rennick and his co-conspirators then disbursed those funds via checks to US residents seeking to cash out their gambling winnings, say federal prosecutors.
According to the indictment filed in a Manhattan court yesterday, Rennick and his co-conspirators provided false and misleading information to US. banks about the purpose of the accounts because the banks would not have processed the transactions had they known they were gambling-related. In total, Rennick and his co-conspirators processed more than USD350 million transferred from a Cyprus bank account to various US bank accounts for this purpose.
If the allegations are proved, the potential penalties are severe: a maximum term of 30 years in prison and a USD1 million fine on the bank fraud charge, 20 years in prison and a USD500,000 fine on the money laundering charge, and five years in prison and a USD250,000 fine on the gambling charge.
The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of at least USD565,908,288 which prosecutors say represents the amount of proceeds obtained as a result of the illegal gambling and bank fraud conspiracies.
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