BUFFALO, N.Y. — A federal jury convicted the owner of Finish Line Auto Sales on Nov. 5 of money laundering and failure to report cash transactions of $10,000 or more after a two week trial. Jerry Robbins faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Robbins helped drug dealers launder proceeds of their illicit business by purchasing high end used cars, according to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joel L. Violanti and Edward H. White. During these sales, the drug dealers would pay the defendant cash for cars ranging in price from $10,500 to $45,000. Robbins used the name of another person in sales and title paperwork to disguise the true purchaser and source of the money.
In addition, in an effort to conceal the amount of money received for the sale of the car, Robbins listed that only a small deposit was received from the third party nominee, when, in fact, the drug dealers had paid cash in full for the car. For each of these types of transactions, Robbins also failed to file the proper forms with the Internal Revenue Service indicating the receipt of over $10,000 cash for the sale of the car, as required by law.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 5, 2015, before U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy, who presided over the trial of the case.
