SAN FRANCISCO, California, United States—Two sons of the former general in charge of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ funds on Thursday pleaded guilty to bulk cash smuggling, United States Attorney Melinda Haag announced.
The sentencing of Juan Paulo and Ian Carl is scheduled for 9 a.m. on November 29, before US District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel. The brothers were released from electronic monitoring pending that appearance.
H.R. 240--the Bulk Cash Smuggling Act of 1999: Field hearing before the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit of the Committee on ... Sixth Congress, second session, May 15, 2000
Juan Paulo Garcia, 29, of Pontiac, Michigan, and Ian Carl Garcia, 32, of Las Vegas, sons of former Philippine military comptroller Carlos Garcia, were indicted under seal on December 9, 2008, on bulk cash smuggling and conspiracy charges.
Juan Paulo was also charged with failing to file a monetary instrument report and making a false statement to a government agency. The indictment was unsealed following their arrest in February 2009.
In pleading guilty, the brothers admitted that in December 2003 they smuggled $100,000 into the United States from Manila, Philippines by concealing it in their luggage, and that they made false statements to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers about the amount of money they were carrying.
The brothers agreed to forfeit the $100,000 to the United States government. In exchange, the United States agreed to dismiss the remaining charges and to recommend a sentence of time served. The brothers have spent approximately 100 days in custody and a year and a half on electronic monitoring.
“This prosecution demonstrates our determination to combat and deter bulk cash smuggling, which is often a means of moving ill-gotten gains into the United States,” said US Attorney Haag. “We applaud the coordination and dedication of the many agencies, including those in the Philippines, that joined forces to investigate this case.”
After CBP Officers discovered the undeclared currency, federal agents initiated an international investigation in cooperation with the Republic of the Philippines, Office of the Ombudsman, Office of the Special Prosecutors.
As a result of the investigation, former Philippine General Carlos Garcia, Juan Paulo and Ian Carl’s father, recently was found guilty in the Philippines of perjury for a false declaration of his assets and liabilities in 2000.
Garcia, his wife and three sons, including Juan Paulo and Ian Carl, are also facing plunder charges in the Philippines for allegedly illegally amassing more than P300 million during the former general’s active military service.
The maximum penalty for each of the four counts in the indictment—conspiracy to commit bulk cash smuggling, bulk cash smuggling, failure to report the importation of monetary instruments and false statements to a government agency—is five years in prison, and a $250,000 fine. The penalty for failure to declare the importation of monetary instruments increases to 10 years in prison if a defendant is convicted of this charge in addition to one of the other three charges in the indictment.
“As the first line of defense for America’s international border, CBP works closely with international law enforcement agencies. This interception highlights the important work CBP officers perform every day,” said Richard Vigna, CBP Director of Field Operations, San Francisco.
Hartley West and Candace Kelly are the Assistant US Attorneys who prosecuted the case with the assistance of Wilson Wong, Rawaty Yim, and Rosario Calderon. The prosecution is the result of an international investigation led by Special Agents from CBP, the Internal Revenue Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service.
Report principally taken from press release of the United States Attorney’s Office.
Published in Philippine Daily Inquirer Sept. 12, 2010.
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