(Bloomberg) -- Two men were arrested in Miami and charged Wednesday with operating an illegal money-transmission business that allowed companies in Venezuela and other South American countries to move $100 million into the U.S.
Luis Diaz Jr., 74, and Luis Javier Diaz, 49, both of Miami, are charged in Manhattan federal court with operating an unlicensed money transmission business and international money laundering. They were scheduled to appear Wednesday in court in South Florida.
Prosecutors claim the two men ran a “shadow bank” outside normal financial channels, using a company they owned in Doral, Florida, to move money, allowing an unnamed “large Venezuelan consortium of construction companies” to put money in the bank accounts of employees, government officials and others. The scheme netted millions of dollars for the two Diazes, according to the government.
Prosecutors claim the two men used phony invoices to hide the fact they were illegally moving money into the U.S. If convicted, they face as much as 20 years on the most serious counts against them.
The case is U.S. v. Diaz, 16-08150, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha, Peter Blumberg
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