INTERNATIONAL MONEY LAUNDERER, EXTRADITED FROM SWITZERLAND, PLEADS GUILTY

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Michael E. Yasofsky, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that defendant Gabriel MacEnroe, 63, pled guilty this morning in West Palm Beach federal court before United States District Court Judge Kenneth A. Marra, to conspiracy to commit money laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h).

        MacEnroe, a citizen of Ireland, maintained finance businesses, Commercial Capital Finance (“CCF”), in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and Commercial Capital Establishment (“CCE”), in Liechtenstein. In 2000, MacEnroe received approximately $2,800,000 through a  pyramid scheme from United States victims.  MacEnroe deposited the funds into his CCF and CCE bank accounts.  Thereafter, in furtherance of the money laundering conspiracy, MacEnroe caused over $1,000,000 of these pyramid scheme fraud funds to be wired back into the United States.

        In May 2007, the United States was successful in extraditing MacEnroe from Switzerland. Sentencing has been scheduled for January 18, 2008 at 3:00 p.m. before Judge Marra in West Palm Beach.

        Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys J. Brian McCormick and Robert J. Lehner.               

        A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.