NEW YORK (Reuters) - The owner of a long-established Manhattan gold refining business pleaded guilty on Thursday to a scheme in which he molded gold into tools and screws for Colombian drug lords in order to launder cash from illegal narcotics sales.Jamie Ross, owner of Ross Refiners, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to money laundering and failing to file currency transaction reports for large business cash deals. He faces a possible maximum prison term of 50 years and a fine of $1.5 million.
Under his plea deal, Ross also agreed to forfeit more than $100,000, representing the amount of money he helped launder in gold sales.
Ross had been among a group of defendants arrested in Manhattan's Diamond District during a June sting operation by federal authorities. Prosecutors said the men had accepted cash generated by drug sales and in exchange, molded metal and painted it to look like common items that could get past customs inspectors.
Informants had told authorities that when such items arrived in Colombia, they were sold to gold refiners for Colombian pesos, which were delivered to narcotic traffickers.
Among items recovered by federal authorities in New York was a working solid gold wrench, which was painted red and gray, worth about $10,000. Other items included pellets inside bottles of shampoo, light switch plates and even a fashionable belt, made up of thin gold bars, that had been painted silver.
