Former Broward County Vice-Mayor and Commissioner Sentenced for Conspiring to Launder Money and Filing a False Tax Return

Jeffrey H. Sloman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office; and Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, announced that defendant Josephus “Joe” Eggelletion, 60, of Lauderdale Lakes, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Court Judge Donald Middlebrooks in West Palm Beach to thirty (30) months' incarceration.

Eggelletion, a former vice-mayor and commissioner in Broward County, had previously pled guilty to a one count Information charging him with conspiring to commit money laundering and filing a false tax return, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.

During his December 10, 2009 plea hearing, Eggelletion admitted to intentionally conspiring with others to assist in the laundering of money represented by FBI undercover agents as coming from a purported high yield investment “Ponzi” scheme, and to evade paying federal income taxes on the cash fees he received for laundering this money. More specifically, Eggelletion admitted that he introduced the FBI undercover agents to co-conspirators Ronald Owens and Joel Williams, who assisted the undercover agents in meeting with Bahamian attorney Sidney Cambridge to open a Bahamian bank account to launder their money. The undercover agents had represented to Eggelletion and others that the money originated from a high yield investment fraud scheme.

According to statements made in court, during 2007, in five separate transactions, the undercover agents wire-transferred approximately $900,000 to Cambridge’s escrow account, which Cambridge in turn transferred to the Bahamian account he set up for the undercover. Ultimately, the funds were transferred from the Bahamian account to an FBI-controlled bank account in Saint Croix. In February 2008, Owens informed Eggelletion that the undercover agents were laundering another $200,000 (in addition to the $900,000 previously laundered). Pursuant to their agreement, Eggelletion and his associates received a fee of 7 percent of funds laundered through the accounts, which fee was paid in cash.

Mr. Sloman commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Neil Karadbil and Jeffrey Kaplan.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.