United States Drug Enforcement Administration

ALBANY, N.Y. – Latam Games, LLC of Miami, Fla., was sentenced today to pay a $500,000 fine following its guilty plea to structuring financial transactions to evade currency reporting requirements.

The announcement was made by United States Drug Enforcement Administration New York Division Special Agent in Charge Raymond Donovan; U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York Grant C. Jaquith; and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) New York Field Office Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen. 

A bank is required to report a customer’s deposits of more than $10,000 in currency in a single transaction. According to the plea agreement, between March 2013 and June 2013, to avoid these reports, Latam Games’ corporate officers broke cash deposits into amounts of less than $10,000 and deposited these smaller amounts in Florida, California, and New Jersey. For example, the company deposited $4,240 on March 18, 2013, $7,445 on March 19, and $9,560 on March 20. The company deposited $9,045 on April 25, 2013, and $9,000 the following day.

Latam Games admitted that it willfully violated federal law against structuring as part of a pattern of illegal activity involving more than $100,000 in a 12-month period. 

Latam Games and another company, Crescent Marketing, Inc., previously forfeited $2,076,155.11 to the United States.   

This case was investigated by the DEA and IRS-CI and was prosecuted by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth C. Coombe and investigated by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Coffman of the NDNY.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Katz represented the United States in the civil forfeiture action.

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