Money laundering and drug trafficking claims have been made against Michael T Haas. Yes, I do have the evidence to reveal his entire tale, so let’s move on, and after that, you may read it and share your opinions on his criminal involvement.
Michael T Haas North Carolina: The Initial Charges (2016)
After entering a guilty plea to his involvement in a marijuana distribution conspiracy, a businessman from Pinehurst is due to be sentenced in March 2016 on federal drug and money laundering charges.
Federal court documents show that Michael T Haas North Carolina was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Raleigh in December and that he pleaded guilty to the allegations of conspiring to distribute and possess more than 100 kilograms (220 pounds) or more of marijuana as well as conspiring to launder money.
What do you know about Money Laundering?
Criminals are largely driven by the potential financial gain from unlawful activity, yet they have difficulty using this money covertly. Their method of making illicit riches appear legal is money laundering. It’s a significant instrument for many illicit operations, including cocaine trafficking and terrorism, assisting criminals in growing and upholding a façade of legitimacy. Unchecked, it can undermine confidence in financial institutions and finance other illegal activities, such as violence and terrorism. Essentially, money laundering gives criminals a way to conceal their illicit profits, which poses a severe threat to both the banking system as well as society at large.
A spokeswoman for Glenn Perry, the special assistant U.S. attorney in Raleigh who is handling the prosecution of the case, said that the plea deal is confidential until it is approved by the judge.
Judge Terrance Boyle of the U.S. District Court in Raleigh has tentatively scheduled a sentence on March 15.
Since being detained in August of last year while participating in a round of golf at Pinehurst No. 2, Michael T Haas North Carolina has been free on an unsecured $1 million bond. Initially, Haas’ release was subject to a curfew of 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., the need for him to be with his sister in Wake County during those hours, and electronic monitoring.
Michael T Haas North Carolina and his wife are now able to reside in Pinehurst thanks to Boyle’s last-month-signed ruling lifting the curfew. Joseph Cheshire V, the Raleigh-based lawyer for Haas, did not respond to a message left for him.
According to the Moore County Register of Deeds office, Michael and Carrie Haas last month sold their property at 220 Midland Road through a procedure known as a deed in lieu of foreclosure for a little under $2 million. The deed was given to Harbour Towne Land, a Suffolk, Virginia-based limited liability company.
Alexander Ferguson, one of the participants in the federal drug case, is a native of Suffolk.
Robert T. Williams, president of Tri-City Developers in Suffolk, is named as the registered agent for Harbour Towne Land. Ferguson has no affiliation with either business, according to Jim Smith, Tri-City’s director of development, who spoke to The Pilot.
In order to prevent foreclosure, a borrower may give the collateral asset back to the borrower as payment for the release of all mortgage-related liabilities. This is known as a deed in lieu of foreclosure.
Michael T Haas North Carolina is restricted from communicating with Ferguson and Samuel Seth Smithwick as part of the terms of his bond release.
Michael T Haas North Carolina was charged with collaborating with these two men between October 2012 and January 2014 to ship several hundred pounds of marijuana from the West Coast to North Carolina. In the fall of 2012, there were three voyages, and in January 2014, there was a fourth.
Ferguson was named as a “co-conspirator” in an affidavit from a federal agent that described how he helped piece together Haas’ participation and supplied information on how the alleged conspiracy operated.
This affidavit was included in the criminal complaint against Michael T Haas North Carolina
Michael T Haas North Carolina and states that the inquiry was partially based on talks Ferguson secretly filmed while donning a recording device in June. He was in Hawaii playing golf with Michael T Haas North Carolina.
Michael T Haas North Carolina: Specifics on the Drug Conspiracy (2012–2014)
A special agent from the N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement Division who is a member of a federal task force with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration provided an affidavit that served as the basis for the criminal complaint against Michael T Haas North Carolina, which was made public following his detention.
Ferguson began collaborating in September 2014 “in hopes of receiving leniency” in his case.
The document contends that in 2012 when Ferguson and Haas took a private flight to Germany to celebrate Oktoberfest, a drug-smuggling scheme was set into motion. According to the affidavit, Ferguson inquired of Haas whether marijuana could be flown from the West Coast to North Carolina using private planes.
He had been using the Postal Service to send “bulk shipments” of marijuana to Virginia and North Carolina up to that point.
In October of that year, at his 50th birthday celebration in Pinehurst, Michael T Haas North Carolina informed Ferguson that he had paid $33,545 for the use of his Haas Enterprises Inc. American Express Platinum card to lease a private jet through JetSuite. The transaction took place on October 11.
The initial 100-pound delivery came from a supplier in South Lake Tahoe, California. Ferguson took a flight to California after dropping off his daughter in Kentucky, where she was attending college. Ferguson and Smithwick boarded the plane the following morning to return to Pinehurst with the marijuana, but due to inclement weather, the flight was rerouted to Suffolk, Virginia.
According to the affidavit, the two men rented a car and traveled to a house that Ferguson booked in Nags Head on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where they stayed from October 13 to October 23 and distributed the marijuana.
Using his American Express Platinum card from Haas Enterprises Inc., Haas leased a second plane for $16,965 on October 22. On October 31st, Smithwick and Ferguson took a plane to Tahoe. According to the affidavit, they boarded a flight back to Pinehurst and went to one of Haas’ residences, which at the time wasn’t being used by Michael T Haas North Carolina.
To arrange for Ferguson and Smithwick to distribute the marijuana in the Outer Banks, Michael T Haas North Carolina first picked up the two men at the Moore County Airport and then drove to the residence where the drug was stored for two days. They brought $170,000 in cash home with them, according to the affidavit, to Haas’ house in Pinehurst.
Investigators claim that after October 31 there was a third flight. Haas’ credit card was used to hire a jet by Ferguson. According to the affidavit, the 100 pounds of marijuana were stashed away in golf bags and gift-wrapped boxes that seemed to be presents.
Boyd’s declaration states that a fourth trip took place on January 10, 2014. Ferguson called Haas and asked for a jet to take him from Pinehurst to San Francisco. Michael T Haas North Carolina paid $31,860 to lease a jet using his Haas Enterprises Inc. American Express card.
On this journey, Ferguson and Smithwick were successful in locating 75 pounds of marijuana. They intended to return to the Moore County Airport, but due to fog, the plane was again diverted to Norfolk, Virginia. According to the affidavit, the two guys traveled to Suffolk, Virginia, where they dispersed marijuana to consumers.
According to the affidavit, Haas got $250,000, which comprised payments for the plane rentals and his marijuana-selling proceeds. Ferguson, Smithwick, and two additional unidentified people carried out Ferguson’s orders and either handed the money to Haas in person or put it into his bank account.
The affidavit claimed that Ferguson consented to record discussions with Haas while donning a wire on June 20 and June 25 of last summer when the two were playing golf in Mauna Lani, Hawaii. They talked about how Michael T Haas North Carolina rented the jets to carry the marijuana using his American Express credit card.
The affidavit stated that the two allegedly decided to divide a $120,000 profit from future marijuana shipments’ net sales.
On July 21, Haas paid $22,976 to Blue Star Jets to rent a jet so that Ferguson could be transported from San Francisco to the Raleigh-Durham Airport. Ferguson recorded a phone call with Haas the day before, during which Haas requested that Ferguson notify him when he had arrived.
Federal officials gave Ferguson instructions to make the plane land in Greenville, North Carolina, instead. Ferguson was then instructed to call Michael T Haas North Carolina
to inform him of the plane’s arrival and the distribution of marijuana. He promised to get in touch with Michael T Haas North Carolina again in a few weeks. In reality, no marijuana was brought on that trip, according to court documents.
Boyd had Ferguson make a second, tape-recorded phone call to Michael T Haas North Carolina on July 30 to inform him that a TSA agent had taken $165,000 in cash from him at RDU Airport. The two men talked about what Ferguson should say to the authorities in later recorded phone conversations in order to get the $165,000 recovered.
Affidavit evidence showed that over $196,000 in cash was placed into Haas’ BB&T account between October 1, 2012 and January 31, 2014. To avoid being discovered by federal officials, the deposits were made in sums of $10,000 or less.
On August 6, the day the warrant for his arrest was obtained and Michael T Haas North Carolina was brought into custody, a sealed criminal complaint was filed against him. The next day, the case file was opened.
Michael T Haas North Carolina was kept in custody in Greenville until an Aug. 12 preliminary and detention hearing. Haas gave up the right to a preliminary hearing and proof of guilt. Haas didn’t give up his option for an indictment-based prosecution until December 9.
Michael T Haas North Carolina: The Consequences & Sentencing
In connection with federal narcotics and money laundering accusations, a Pinehurst man was given a 20-month jail term on Thursday, October 19, 2017.
According to records in the Eastern District of the U.S. District Court, Michael Haas, who was detained while playing golf on Pinehurst No. 2 in August 2015, will report to an undisclosed federal prison on January 1. There will be consecutive 20-month sentences for each count. The next three years will see him on supervised release.
Judge Terrence Boyle of the U.S. District Court gave active prison sentences to five members of a marijuana and money laundering organization, including Haas, 55.
According to a press release from U.S. Attorney Robert Higdon Jr. for the Eastern District of North Carolina, more than 600 pounds of marijuana were distributed to customers in North Carolina, Virginia, and Hawaii, and more than $1.8 million in drug proceeds were laundered through different bank accounts in sums less than $10,000 to avoid the federal transaction reporting requirement.
Haas consented to forfeit $177,195 that had been taken from his bank accounts, according to the records. The additional $822,804 was $822,804 that the prosecution requested that U.S. District Court Judge Terrance Boyle impose a judgment against Haas.
Conclusion
In the end, I want to say that Pinehurst businessman Michael Haas was part of a plot to distribute marijuana and launder money. In December 2015, he entered a guilty plea to the charges.
Haas was sentenced to a 20-month prison term for his involvement in the narcotics and money laundering conspiracy after going through a number of legal processes, including being freed on bond and selling his property.
In addition, the judge mandated that he lose a sizeable sum of money from his bank accounts. Haas will serve concurrent terms of imprisonment for each crime, and following his release, he will be placed under supervision for three years.
The case is used as an illustration of the severe repercussions that people may experience if they participate in drug-related crimes and money-laundering schemes on a federal level.
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