Edgardo Aguirre pleaded guilty to conspiring with Rene Abreu, a well-known Hudson county businessman, to structure currency transactions to evade bank reporting requirements, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.
Aguirre, 51, was one of 11 individuals indicted in a 47-count Indictment in May 2002, which charged multiple conspiracies including extortion and cash structuring in excess of $2 million, as well as several bank fraud schemes, money laundering, bribery of bank officials, and more. Aguirre, a real estate agent formerly with an Abreu real estate company in Guttenberg, appeared today before U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway, Jr. to plead guilty to Count 18 of the Indictment, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah L. Goldklang. The case against Rene Abreu and others is scheduled to go to trial on Feb. 24.
Count 18 charged Aguirre, Abreu and others with conspiring to structure currency transactions, by causing in excess of $2 million to be deposited into accounts at Hudson United Bank and other financial institutions in amounts of less than $10,000, to avoid the filing of currency transaction reports by the financial institutions, as required by law.
Generally speaking, the cash transaction reports are a lawful requirement to aid law enforcement in the detection of large movements of cash through the banking system for potentially unlawful purposes.
Aguirre admitted to assisting Abreu with structuring cash deposits into bank accounts under Abreu‘s control, enabling Abreu to avoid the filing of a currency transaction report. Aguirre also admitted that at times between 1995 and 2000, he received cash from Rene Abreu which added up to more than $10,000 and then deposited the cash into his bank account in amounts under $10,000. Aguirre also admitted that close in time to making such cash deposits, he obtained official bank checks made payable to several of Abreu‘s companies, which Aguirre then endorsed and provided to Abreu at Abreu‘s direction.
Judge Greenaway set sentencing for May 3 at 9:30 a.m. When Aguirre is sentenced, he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
