Attorney Convicted Of Laundering Drug Money
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Michael J. Ferguson, Acting Special Agent in Charge of DEA New England Division and Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that a federal jury in New Haven has found Ralph Crozier, 62, an attorney based in Seymour, guilty of money laundering offenses. The trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall began on September 16 and the jury returned its verdict this afternoon.
According to the evidence introduced during the trial, law enforcement began investigating Crozier after receiving information from a convicted narcotics trafficker who was in federal custody. The narcotics trafficker stated that he was a former client of Crozier and that Crozier had convinced him to invest $30,000 in cash into Crozier’s law partner’s solar energy company. Crozier knew that the cash was derived from his client’s narcotics trafficking activities.
In 2013, the narcotics trafficker’s mother agreed to wear a recording device while meeting with Crozier to discuss her son’s prior investment. On April 11, 2013, the woman brought $11,000 in DEA funds to a meeting with Crozier, representing that her son had hidden the cash and wanted her to bring it to Crozier. The conversation during the meeting made it clear that the money had been illegally derived from drug dealing. Crozier accepted the cash and told the woman that he was going to make out the receipt in her son’s name, stating “I don’t want to put your name on anything because I don’t want you involved with hiding things from the Feds.” Crozier was arrested shortly after the woman left his office.
Crozier was convicted of one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and one count of attempt to launder monetary instruments. Each charge carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of up to $1 million.
Chief Judge Hall scheduled sentencing for December 18, 2014. Crozier is currently released on a $200,000 bond. This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
