• Pacific Daily News • September 4, 2010

http://www.guampdn.com/article/20100904/NEWS01/9040312

Local attorney Danilo "Danny" Aguilar pleaded guilty yesterday to money laundering charges that stemmed from withdrawals of proceeds from a cashier's check that later turned out to be fake.

Under a plea agreement, Aguilar would be under probation for five years, must pay restitution to a bank that lost money as a result of the fraudulent cashier's check transaction, and pay a $200 special assessment fee.

The plea agreement states that on May 14, 2009, the defendant withdrew $100,000 from his bank account at First Hawaiian Bank and a day later withdrew $89,947 from the bank account -- even when he knew the funds represented the proceeds of mail fraud.

Aguilar pleaded guilty to two money laundering counts, according to the plea agreement filed in the U.S. District Court of Guam.

The U.S. Attorney's Office, in a previous press release, stated that Aguilar was the victim of what's called a referral scam, which targets law firms that are made to believe they have clients that send them a cashier's check that's later found to be fraudulent.

According to a criminal complaint filed Aug. 18, the allegations against Aguilar stem from a supposed $298,960 Citibank cashier's check Aguilar received in the mail. Aguilar deposited the check in his law firm's bank account, and the check initially cleared, according to an IRS special agent's affidavit in court.

But when the Bank of Guam later told Aguilar that the cashier's check was fraudulent, the federal agent's affidavit in support of the complaint states, Aguilar allegedly directed an employee at his firm to withdraw a total of $184,947 from another bank account at First Hawaiian Bank where part of the proceeds of the cashier's check had been deposited.