New Yorker with Uzbek roots sentenced to 10 years in prison for money laundering

A New Yorker with Uzbek roots, Jonanibek Rakhmankulov, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for laundering millions of dollars. In addition, he is accused of fraud in the field of healthcare, small business, as well as conducting international business using illegal money. This is stated on the site. US Department of Justice.

On September 1, 2022, Rakhmankulov was charged with money laundering conspiracy, bank fraud and conspiracy to run a money laundering business.

“He used the financial system to launder millions of dollars from numerous fraudulent schemes and lied to banks on numerous occasions to run his illegal enterprise. And even after he was convicted, the defendant continued to show that he, in his opinion, was above the law, threatening witnesses and passing false information to the court, ”said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.

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Between 2017 and September 2020, Rakhmankulov ran a network of companies that were used to launder millions of dollars in criminal proceeds from several criminal activities. Rakhmankulov worked with computer hackers who fraudulently gained control of victims' bank accounts located throughout the United States and made millions of dollars in fraudulent transfers to bank accounts opened by Rakhmankulov and his associates.

Rakhmankulov received the transfers to bank accounts he created and also instructed others to launder these proceeds through several additional bank accounts in an attempt to prevent victims and banks from recovering the stolen funds.

In addition, Rakhmankulov worked with a network of pharmacies involved in Medicare and Medicaid fraud. These pharmacies filed millions of dollars in fraudulent bills for HIV drugs they obtained illegally, including by buying back drugs from HIV patients who were Medicaid recipients.

Rakhmankulov created companies to collect these criminal proceeds from pharmacies and laundered them through a variety of means, including using them to finance an unlicensed business that illegally transferred money to and from several countries, including Iran.

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic began, Rakhmankulov filed fraudulent COVID-19 loan applications for small business services for several companies he controlled.

He laundered proceeds from loans and grants through these companies. Rakhmankulov also made a number of materially false statements to financial institutions in connection with his money laundering schemes, both in opening bank accounts and in carrying out financial transactions with those bank accounts.

Rakhmankulov tried to obstruct the court during the consideration of his case. In the months leading up to the trial, Rakhmankulov instructed the witness to lie to law enforcement agencies. When the witness told Rakhmankulov that he would tell the truth, Rakhmankulov began to threaten: “I will drag everyone along with me, and as soon as you are there, I will take revenge on you.” However, the witness testified at the trial.

In addition to his jail term, Rakhmankulov, 35, from Queens, was sentenced to three years of supervised release. Rakhmankulov will have to pay compensation in the amount of $5 and a fine of $413.