Former owner of Napa Valley Athletic Club pleaded guilty in Detroit

http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/ex-napan-michael-venuta-faces-prison-for-money-laundering/article_45f13d4a-0b6a-11e3-bd8c-001a4bcf887a.html?comment_form=true

A man with long ties to the Napa Valley may be sentenced in federal court in Detroit to up to 20 years in prison for laundering drug money, according to federal records.

Michael Venuta, who once owned the now-closed Napa Valley Athletic Club in Napa and formerly worked as a contractor in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, pleaded guilty in July to laundering more than $503,800 in drug proceeds between April 2011 and December 2012, according to the plea approved in July 9 in Detroit.

The funds were transported between Mexico, the United States and Canada to conceal the source, nature and location of the funds, federal authorities stated in court filings.

In addition to the prison term, Venuta, 54, is also subject to a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is set for Oct. 8 in federal court in Detroit.

Under the plea, Venuta agrees to forfeit $356,314 and waives his right to appeal his conviction, according to court documents. In addition to a prison term, he may be under supervised release between two to three years.

Venuta was originally indicted in January for laundering about $1.2 million in narcotics proceeds between April 2011 and December 2012, according to the federal indictment filed Jan. 10 in Detroit.

In January, a federal grand jury indicted him for conspiracy and money laundering and asked that he forfeit $356,314, according to court records. Venuta’s attorney could not be reached for comment.

The case against the former health club owner came to light in April 2011 when a source told federal agents that Venuta, a Cabo San Lucas resident, was trying to facilitate suspected money laundering transactions for multiple drug organizations, federal authorities said in court records.

In a telephone call, Venuta allegedly indicated to an undercover Drug Enforcement Agency agent that he knew two to three “groups based in Mexico and Canada that needed to launder money,” according to federal authorities.

Federal agents suspected Venuta of working for members of the Sinaloa Cartel and the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, according to an affidavit the DEA filed in January.

State records indicate Venuta’s last California license as a general contractor expired in 1993. It’s unclear when he closed the health club.

In 2004, Venuta still co-owned the Napa Valley Athletic Club, when he was sentenced to a two-year probation term after he and his girlfriend pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace in connection with an incident with an off-duty Napa County sheriff’s deputy at a store.

A year later, a federal judge dismissed a civil rights lawsuit Venuta and his then-girlfriend filed against the county over what the plaintiffs said was an improper search warrant of their homes and business in another incident involving a former business partner.