Nice people go to Monaco with nearly 20,000 euros in cash to buy a Rolex and are checked: a launderer and a thief convicted
In the fight against money laundering, Monaco wants to be exemplary. A will again demonstrated with the comparison before the criminal court of two defendants handcuffed in the box.
They had come to the Principality on March 25, carrying sums of cash: 9,260 euros for one, 9,950 euros for the other. So much cash aroused the suspicions of the police during the check of their vehicle. Because maximum entry into Monegasque territory with 10,000 euros or more in banknotes is immediately the subject of investigations. Their goal: To buy a Rolex watch worth 17,500 euros in a boutique in Monte-Carlo.
With 350 euros monthly, a lifestyle “surprising”
Quickly, the investigators wanted to know the origin of the funds transported by these two Niçois, respectively business manager and unemployed, aged 29 and 28. As soon as the case was investigated, the manager’s resources surprised President Florestan Bellinzona. “You run three companies that all have the same head office, with a clear preference for all-cash payments. What a surprising way of life! How do you manage to pay rent and leave for a stay in Dubai with a salary of 350 euros per month for four people? Wearing a 17,000 euro watch on your arm? The answer appears convoluted. Because nothing is done directly when it comes to talking about banking operations.
An unemployed man with a Rolex at 17,500 euros
Any approach is complicated, in fact, with loans from a cousin which pass through several accounts and where transfers are grafted without exceeding the amount of 10,000 euros so as not to arouse the curiosity of the bank. His three businesses have no accounts. Added to this is a strange line of reasoning: why offer to buy a winning ticket… There is something to get lost in such stories.
The situation of the unemployed is also worth its weight in gold when the magistrate intervenes in his financial situation. Without a profession, he often threw himself into expenses far removed from impecuniosity. The president can still understand the loan of money granted by the father in order to acquire a vehicle worth 20,000 euros.
But his position as a client at Gucci appears totally incomprehensible. “You made five purchases in these shops for a total of 5,710 eurosremarks the magistrate who is not at the end of his troubles. And also committed the theft of a pair of glasses in Monte-Carlo on May 15, 2021. At the time, the use of CCTV cameras made it possible to identify you thanks to the registration of your vehicle. Then, when you live with mom and dad because there is no more salary coming in, buying a Rolex watch for 17,500 euros is not a priority… Unless there are income receipts that you are hiding … “ The defendant has not recovered from these arguments and he provides few explanations given on the true origin of the funds provided.
“A parallel financial circuit”
When the replacement Emmanuelle Carniello gets up for her requisitions, the prosecutor will deliver the coup de grace. “The money would come from companies without bank accounts. Navigate everything in cash to better work with tax evasion. By planning to keep some liaisons under the mattress in order to buy a Rolex, whose invoice is in the name of another person, and the latest iPhone. But with two minor children, we start sticking out our tongues at the end of the month. So, it’s the waltz of loans from cousins, false invoices and hidden work…”
And to conclude:Be serious ! At the exit, everything was done so that we do not know who paid, who lent, where the funds came from! This parallel financial circuit is the final straw. Not to mention the history of theft, drug trafficking and others. You sand a sentence of twelve months firm for the manager and ten months for the unemployed.
At the end of the deliberations, the court acquitted the unemployed man of the money laundering facts, but sentenced him to fifteen days in prison for the theft of the glasses from Gucci.
The manager was sentenced to five months in prison. His lawyer will certainly appeal a decision that she considered disproportionate.