3 Busted In $100 Million Money Laundering Scheme Out Of Cinnaminson: Police

CINNAMINSON, NJ — Three people have been arrested in a $100 million laundering scheme that originated from a Cinnaminson-based business, authorities announced on Monday. Additionally, $450,000 in cash and deposited funds, nine cars, three motorcycles and 30 high-end watches were seized following a nine-month investigation into the scheme.

Search warrants were executed at MAIA Consulting, 803 South Route 130, on Aug. 24, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina and Cinnaminson Township Public Safety Director Michael P. King announced.

They were also executed at the three homes of the co-conspirators, as well as a self-storage facility. Several bank accounts and the contents of a safety deposit box were seized during the raids.

The following people were charged with first-degree financial facilitation of criminal activity, more commonly known as money laundering:

• MAIA Consulting Owner Renato Maia Da Silva, 51, of the Camelot Apartments at Cinnaminson Harbor;
• Wesley Dos Santos, 33, of the 300 block of Berkeley Avenue in Palmyra; and
• Lucas Alves, 34, of the 100 block of Helen Drive in Cinnaminson.

Da Silva was arrested at the business, and the other two co-conspirators were arrested at their homes. All three men are in the country illegally from Brazil, and their cases are being reviewed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), police said. A detention hearing for all three is also scheduled for Tuesday in Superior Court.

The majority of the cash seized during the operation was discovered inside the consulting business. The vehicles that were seized included a fully-restored 1967 Pontiac CP Tempest GTO.

“This is not a victimless crime,” Coffina said. “These illegal financial transactions have increased the costs of construction in our area, deprived multiple government bodies of needed tax revenue, and placed some of our most vulnerable construction workers at peril from injuries that occur on the job. I’d like to acknowledge in particular our Financial Crimes Unit and the Cinnaminson Police Department for their painstaking efforts in recognizing this complex money laundering operation and building the case supporting the asset seizures and charges we have filed against the defendants perpetrating this scheme, and also thank our other law enforcement partners involved in this operation.”

An investigation into the company began in November, when Cinnaminson police officers began to suspect an illegal check-cashing operation was being run out of the business. Police said they learned that multiple construction companies along the East Coast used the business to conceal payments to undocumented workers in the construction industry.

Several individuals laundered $100 million through an elaborate, illegal check cashing scheme through the company since 2015, police said. MAIA Consulting would cash checks that were issued to shell companies that only existed in order to further the scheme, according to police.

Construction subcontractors who employed undocumented workers used those companies to avoid labor reporting regulations as well as tax obligations and insurance requirements, and MAIA Consulting received a portion of the checks cashed, police said.

The co-conspirators also created and managed their own shell companies in order to rent out the names of construction companies they control and the accompanying insurance policies, police said. Profits were quickly deposited into and withdrawn from bank accounts held by other shell companies that existed in name only in a further attempt to hide the origins of the funds, police said. The hope was to make it appear as though the money was earned from legitimate sources and to mask the identities of the recipients.

The ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office Financial Crimes Unit, Cinnaminson Township Police Department, New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, New Jersey Division of Taxation, New Jersey State Police, Palmyra Borough Police Department, U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Anyone with information about these defendants or this case that might be beneficial to investigators is urged to call the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office at 609-265-5035 and ask to speak to a detective in the Financial Crimes Unit.

The attached images of Renato Maia Da Silva, Wesley Dos Santos and Lucas Alves was provided by the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.