Cleveland attorney convicted of money laundering for accepting $20,000 in purported drug profits

A Cleveland attorney was convicted of money laundering for accepting $20,000 in purported drug proceeds and agreeing to launder the money, said Carole Rendon, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

Matthew J. King, 45, was convicted on one count of attempted money laundering and two counts of money laundering following a weeklong jury trial. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Donald C. Nugent on Aug. 30.

King accepted $20,000 in cash purported to be the proceeds of the sale of narcotics. He then wrote two checks totaling $4,000 in early 2014, according to trial testimony and court documents.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle M. Baeppler and Margaret A. Sweeney following an investigation by the Northern Ohio Law Enforcement Task Force. The NOLETF is a task force comprised of investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cleveland Division of Police, Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority, Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the police departments of Cleveland Heights, Euclid, Lakewood, the Regional Transit Authority, Westlake and Shaker Heights. The NOLETF is also one of the initial Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area initiatives, which supports and helps coordinate numerous Ohio drug task forces in their efforts to eliminate or reduce drug trafficking in Ohio.