News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 25, 2007
Contact: Terry Wyatt
214-366-6966

Broken Arrow Man Guilty of Money Laundering

JAN 25 -- (TULSA, OKLAHOMA)_- United States Attorney David E. O’Meilia announced today that LEE R. SNIDER, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to the crime of Conspiracy to Money Launder.

The Information, filed in August 2006, alleges that beginning in September 2001 and continuing through much of 2003, SNIDER operated an aircraft leasing business known as Mach Aero International, Inc. of Tulsa, and that he accepted bags and briefcases containing money derived from illegal narcotics-related activity. The Information also charged that SNIDER used the money to further purchase or lease aircraft, and the aircraft were registered in the name of Mach Aero International with SNIDER’s knowledge that they would be used in narcotics-related activity. The Information alleges that SNIDER structured deposits of currency in various financial institutions in the Northern District of Oklahoma in a manner to avoid currency transactions reporting requirements and to disguise the source and ownership of the currency.

Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation. The defendant faces a maximum sentence of twenty years imprisonment, a term of supervised release to be determined by the court, and/or a fine of not more than $500,000.

The charges resulted from an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Assistant United States Attorney Allen J. Litchfield represented the government in this matter.

SNIDER was ordered released on bond following the plea of guilty by the Honorable Frank H. McCarthy, Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.