The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania has announced that two Lancaster men, Christopher Lopez and Michael Torres, have been sentenced on money laundering charges. The sentencing took place on January 23, 2025, with United States District Court Judge Jennifer P. Wilson presiding. Lopez received a sentence of one year and one day in prison, while Torres was sentenced to six months. Both will serve one year on supervised release after their prison terms.
Acting United States Attorney John C. Gurganus reported that Lopez owned C&D Motorsports in Lancaster, where Torres worked as a salesperson. An investigation by the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) began in 2019 following reports that the dealership served known drug traffickers who purchased vehicles there without filing necessary currency transaction reports for cash sales over $10,000.
An undercover operation was conducted by IRS-CI agents posing as a drug trafficker and his girlfriend. They met with Torres and Lopez at C&D Motorsports on October 16, 2019, discussing a vehicle purchase using drug trafficking proceeds and ensuring it would be titled under the girlfriend's name to exclude the trafficker from official documents. A subsequent meeting on December 11, 2019, led to a vehicle being titled in a third party’s name following another cash purchase.
A federal grand jury indicted both men in February 2022 for conspiring to commit money laundering with proceeds claimed to be from drug trafficking activities. After a four-day trial in February 2024, they were found guilty of accepting over $33,000 in cash believed to be from cocaine sales and concealing its origin by titling the vehicle under another person's name.
“IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to unraveling complex financial transactions and money laundering schemes where individuals attempt to conceal the true source of their money,” stated Amy MacNeely, Acting Special Agent in Charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation's Philadelphia Field Office.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation aimed at dismantling high-level criminal organizations through collaborative efforts across various law enforcement agencies.
The investigation involved both IRS Criminal Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christian Haugsby and Joseph Terz prosecuting.
