United States v. Vickie S. Cabrales (524 U.S. 1)

U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 1, 1998 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)

Citation
524 U.S. 1 · 118 S. Ct. 1772
Decided
June 1, 1998
Term
October Term 1997
Vote
9–0
Majority author
Justice Ginsburg
Issue area
Judicial Power
Disposition
Affirmed
Outcome
Petitioning party lost
Ideological direction
Liberal

Opinion excerpt

Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court. This case presents a question of venue, specifically, the place appropriate for trial on charges of money laundering in violation of 18 U. S. C. § 1956(a) (1) (B) (ii) (conducting a financial transaction to avoid a transaction-reporting requirement) and §1957 (engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000). The laundering alleged in the indictment occurred entirely in Florida. The currency purportedly laundered derived from the unlawful distribution of cocaine in Missouri. The defendant, respondent 'Vickie S. Cabrales, is not alleged to have transported funds from Missouri to Florida. Nor is she charged, in the counts before us, with participation in the Missouri cocaine distribution that generated the funds in question. In accord with the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, we hold that Missouri is not a proper place for trial of the money-laundering offenses at issue. I In a three-count indictment returned in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Ca-brales, as sole defendant, was charged with the following offenses: conspiracy to avoid a transaction-reporting requirement, in violation of 18 U. S. C. §§ 371, 1956(a)(1)(B)(ii) (Count I); conducting a financial transaction to avoid a transaction-reporting requirement, in violation of…

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