MARINE MAJOR INDICTED ON FINANCIAL CRIMES PHOENIX
â A Marine Major turned himself in to federal authorities in Phoenix on
Monday pursuant to an arrest warrant on charges he illegally deposited
over $440,000 into U.S. bank accounts following a six-month deployment
in Iraq in 2005 as a contracting officer. Charges facing the Marine
Major, Mark Richard Fuller, 42, of Yuma, Ariz., are detailed in a
22-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Phoenix. They
include Structuring Financial Transactions Through A Domestic Financial
Institution, a violation of 31 U.S.C. Â 5324(a)(3). The
indictment alleges that Fuller is a Marine Major who was deployed to
Iraq from February 15, 2005 to September 27, 2005. Fuller served as a
Project Purchasing Officer for the Commanderâs Emergency Response
Program (CERP), and he was assigned to the 5th Civil Affairs Group,
Camp Fallujah, in Iraq. In this capacity Fuller identified and
selected reconstruction projects, awarded reconstruction projects to
Iraqi contractors, negotiated contract terms, and verified the
completion of projects. CERP funds were distributed to the Iraqi
contractors in the form of brand new $100 United States Currency notes. According
to the indictment, soon after returning from his deployment in Iraq,
Fuller began making cash deposits with brand new $100 U.S. Currency
notes. Between October of 2005 to April of 2006, Fuller made 91 cash
deposits totaling over $440,000 into bank accounts with Bank of
America, Chase Bank and the Navy Federal Credit Union. The indictment
alleges that Fuller made multiple cash deposits under $10,000 into
various bank accounts for the purpose of evading the reporting
requirements under Federal Law. A
conviction for Structuring Financial Transactions carries a maximum
penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. In
determining the actual sentence, a federal judge will consult the U.S.
Sentencing Guidelines, which provide the appropriate sentencing ranges.
The judge, however, is not bound by those guidelines in determining a
sentence. An
indictment is simply the method by which a person is charged with
criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt. An individual is
presumed innocent until competent evidence is presented to a jury that
establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The
joint investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service
-Criminal Investigations, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Defense
Criminal Investigative Service and the Special Inspector General for
Iraqi Reconstruction. The prosecution is being handled by Raymond K.
Woo, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix. CASE NUMBER: CR-10-605-PHX-DGC RELEASE NUMBER: 2010-105(Defendantâs last name) # # # For more information on the U.S. Attorneyâs Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/az/ |