Home Buffalo Press Releases 2011 Businessman Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Charge
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Businessman Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Charge

U.S. Attorney’s Office January 07, 2011
  • Western District of New York (716) 843-5700

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Gregory H. Whitworth, 45, currently of Breton, Alabama, pled guilty to money laundering before Chief U.S. District Court Judge William M. Skretny. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the money laundering transactions.

Assistant U.S. Attorney MaryEllen Kresse, who is handling 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, pled guilty in January 2010 for his role in the money laundering scheme and was sentenced on December 23, 2010 to four years probation. Another company involved in the money laundering scheme was Eclipse Processing, Inc. of Williamsville, N.Y. Eclipse's owner, Ralph S. Guastaferro, Jr., pled guilty to money laundering in November 2009 for his role in the scheme and is awaiting sentencing. Prior to his arrest on the money laundering charges, Whitworth was living and working in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Sentencing is scheduled for April 27, 2011 at 9a.m. before Judge Skretny. The guilty plea was the result of an investigation by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Lev Kubiak, Special Agent In-Charge and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent In-Charge James H. Robertson.

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