7 January 2004 – LAWFUEL – Best for law news – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced that Yogesh K. Gandhi and his wife Kristi M. Gandhi were indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury in San Francisco. Each defendant was charged with multiple counts of unlawful structuring of currency transactions. Yogesh Gandhi was charged with five counts and Kristi Gandhi was charged with four counts of violating Title 31, United States Code, Section 5324(a)(3).
According to the indictment, between October 25, 2001 and February 20, 2002, the
defendants structured currency transactions on six occasions with Citibank Federal
Savings Bank for the purpose of evading the lawful reporting requirements.
Furthermore, the indictment also charges Yogesh Gandhi with structuring currency
transactions on or about May, 29, 30 and 31, 2002, and June 1, 3, 4 and 5, 2002,
with Washington Mutual Bank, also for the purpose of evading the lawful reporting requirements.
The Gandhis were arrested this morning at their residence in Pleasant Hill,
California by special agents from IRS Criminal Investigation, Immigration and
Customs Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The Gandhis will be arraigned tomorrow morning in Oakland by U.S. Magistrate Judge Wayne Brazil. Each
defendant was released on bond.
The maximum statutory penalty for each count of structuring currency transactions
in violation of Title 31 U.S.C. § 5324(a)(3) is five years imprisonment and a fine
of $250,000 plus restitution. An indictment simply contains allegations against an
individual and, as with all defendants, Yogesh K. Gandhi and Kristi M. Gandhi must
be presumed innocent unless and until convicted.
The prosecution is the result of an investigation by special agents of the Internal
Revenue Service; U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Thomas Moore is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of legal technician Kathy Tat.
A copy of this press release and related court filings may be found on the U.S.
Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can
. Related court documents and information may be
found on the U.S. District Court website at www.cand.uscourts.gov
or on
.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Cynthia
Caporizzo at (415) 436-6740.
