MIAMI -- A Miami bank indicted for laundering $96 million in drug money, the first south Florida bank ever charged with joining a money-laundering conspiracy, calls the charges 'unfounded.'
In a statement issued following a federal indictment of the Great American Bank of Dade County and three of its former employees Monday, bank officials said 'the bank intends to contest these unfounded charges and will establish its innocence at trial.'
The indictments charged thatofficers of the Great American and 12 other people conspired to launder drug money from January 1980 through February 1981. Federal officials said the bank faces more than $6 million in fines if convicted.
The bank personnel charged are Lionel Paytuvi, former Great American vice president for commercial loans, Carlos Nunez, former head teller, and Elaine Kemp, a former teller.
Bank officials said the accusations against Great American were a 'disservice' to both law enforcement officials and the Miami banking community.
'The truth of the matter is that the bank was a victim of what the government apparently alleges was a money-laundering scheme, which occurred almost three years ago,' said Christina Tomczak, senior vice president of the bank's holding company.
'The inability of the U.S. Attorney and Internal Revenue Service to distinguish between criminals and victims of crimes is regrettable,' she said.
The indictments came as a result of 'Operation Greenback,' a federal investigation started in 1979 by the IRS, U.S. Customs and local police to trace the finances of drug-smuggling operations in south Florida.
The Great American is specifically charged with failing to accurately report cash deposits of more than $10,000 as required by federal law.
The indictment said officials in the bank's installment loan section received cash from drug deals and recorded the transactions as installment loans in the bank's name. It also charged that bank officials opened an account in a fictitious name, then processed drug profits through it.
The charges against Great American represent the first time a bank has been indicted since the start of Operation Greenback, and the first known indictment of a bank since a 1970 New York case, U.S. Customs Investigator Bill Rosenblatt said.
