Anchor Point Man Indicted by Federal Grand Jury for Money Laundering Conspiracy

ANCHORAGE—United States Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that an Anchor Point man was indicted by a federal grand jury in Anchorage on one count of conspiring to launder money.

The one-count indictment names BJ Griffith, 22, an Anchor Point resident, as the sole defendant. According to the indictment, from sometime in September 2009 to August 2010, Griffith conspired with unnamed co-conspirators to engage in financial transactions involving drug-trafficking proceeds in order to conceal or disguise the source, ownership and control of those proceeds, and that he conspired to engage in monetary transactions exceeding $10,000 that involved drug trafficking proceeds. Specifically, the indictment alleges that on two occasions in 2009, Griffith caused title and registration for two different Cadillac Escalade vehicles to be issued in his name, although he knew that an unindicted coconspirator had purchased those vehicles with drug trafficking proceeds.

Assistant United States Attorney Kimberly Sayers-Fay, who presented the case to the grand jury, advised that the maximum penalties for money laundering conspiracy are 20 years in prison, a $500,000 fine, three years of supervised release and a $100 special assessment. Griffith presently has a federal money laundering charge pending in the District of Nevada that stems from different allegations.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Alaska State Troopers conducted the investigation the led to the indictment in this case.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.