SAN FRANCISCO- Steven J. Nemec was sentenced today to 57 months prison and ordered to forfeit $80,000 for structuring cash transactions, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Alex G. Tse, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Chris Nielsen, and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge Michael T. Batdorf. The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Susan Illston, U.S. District Judge, following Nemec’s entry of a guilty plea on Sept. 1, 2017.
According to his guilty plea, between Nov. 14, 2012, and Sept. 24, 2013, Nemec, 46, of Santa Clara, Calif., used seven bank accounts to structure 175 cash deposits, totaling $1,374,830. Nemec admitted that all of the cash deposits were made in amounts less than $10,000 in an effort to avoid scrutiny of his financial transactions. In addition, Nemec admitted he knew the funds being deposited were the proceeds of illegal activity, i.e., marijuana sales. Nemec also did not report to the IRS the portion of the money that was his own income.
On March 29, 2016, a federal grand jury issued an indictment charging Nemec with 54 counts of structuring, in violation of 31 U.S.C. § 5324(a)(3). Pursuant to his guilty plea, Nemec pleaded guilty to all the counts.
In addition to the term of imprisonment and restitution, Judge Illston ordered Nemec to serve 3 years of supervised release following his prison term.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Gilbert is prosecuting this case with assistance from Ana Guerra and Linda Love. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Agency and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. This case was investigated and prosecuted by member agencies of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a focused multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force investigating and prosecuting the most significant drug trafficking organizations throughout the United States by leveraging the combined expertise of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
