BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES -- A business that rented safe deposit boxes in Beverly Hills to customers who wished to remain anonymous pleaded guilty Wednesday to money laundering, admitting in federal court that it sought drug traffickers and other criminals as customers who often kept stacks of illegally obtained cash in their personal vaults.
The company admitted to having"recruited as its customers drug traffickers and other criminals" who paid over $550,000 in cash and bitcoin in exchange for the anonymous use of safety deposit boxes"to store the proceeds of their offenses, most often in stacks of $100 bills," according to the plea agreement filed in Los Angeles federal court.
Box holders seeking the return of their property said the government overstepped constitutional protections in efforts to uncover illegal activity. About $86 million in cash and millions more in jewelry and other valuables were reportedly seized, but specific criminal conduct has not been alleged against customers.
the family must be proud