Alabama Businessman Sentenced for Money Laundering

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Gregory H. Whitworth, 45, currently of Brewton, Alabama, who was convicted of money laundering, was sentenced to 18 months in prison by Chief U.S. District Court Judge William M. Skretny.

Assistant U.S. Attorney MaryEllen Kresse, who handled the case, stated that from March 2005 until January 2006, Whitworth was involved in laundering the proceeds of telemarketing fraud through a Columbus, Ohio company called Integrated Check Technologies. In the money laundering scheme, victims’ money was first deposited into bank accounts controlled by Integrated Check Technologies and then transferred back to telemarketers in Canada and the United States. Whitworth admitted that he was involved in the laundering of close to $20,000,000 during this period.

The owner of Integrated Check Technologies, Thomas Cimicato, pleaded guilty in January 2010 for his role in the money laundering scheme and was sentenced in December 2010 to four years’ probation. Another company involved in the money laundering scheme was Eclipse Processing, Inc. of Williamsville, New York. Owner, Ralph S. Guastaferro, Jr., pleaded guilty to money laundering in November 2009 for his role in the scheme, and was sentenced in June 2011 to 24 months in prison and fined $100,000.

Prior to his arrest on the money laundering charges, Whitworth was living and working in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security, under the direction of James C. Spero, Special Agent in Charge; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christopher M. Piehota.