FRESNO, Calif.—United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced today that ABDULLA KASEM AHMED MUTHANA, 44, of Corcoran, Calif., was sentenced today by United States District Judge Oliver W. Wanger to 30 months in prison and ordered to forfeit the proceeds of his unlawful activity in the approximate amount of $220,306.
This case is the product of an investigation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
According to Assistant United States Attorney Stanley A. Boone, who prosecuted the case, MUTHANA pleaded guilty in November 2007 to laundering approximately $350,000 in monies he believed to have been the proceeds of illegal activity from the period of September 2005 to February 2007. At the time the offenses were committed, the defendant owned the Ranchito Markets in Corcoran and Tulare, Calif. and used these businesses to launder the money. As part of the laundering activity, the defendant accepted scores of checks he believed were proceeds of an unemployment benefits fraud scheme, collected his transaction fee, between $50 per check or 12% of the amount laundered, and remitted the remaining proceeds back to the person in cash. During the execution of search and seizure warrants in February 2007, approximately $220,306 was seized in cash and from the defendant’s bank accounts.
In November 2007, two additional money laundering charges were added relating to transactions in November 2006 and February 2007 that occurred after he was indicted on the original four counts of money laundering. In the November 2006 transaction, the defendant transferred approximately $55,000 in monies he believed were proceeds of illegal activity to a bank account located in Bahrain, which was in fact an undercover bank account.
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