The US has issued a final order of forfeiture for the money seized by special agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from two accounts belonging to US-based Guyanese Arnold and Sabrina Budhram, who have pleaded guilty to money laundering charges.
According to court documents, the ICE agents seized US$439,792.49 from two accounts at Astoria Federal Savings Bank and JP Morgan Chase on or around April 9, 2005. The Budhrams then agreed to forfeit the money to the United States government. However, by law the government was obliged to publish the preliminary order of forfeiture three times and it subsequently appeared in the New York Post, a newspaper of general circulation in the Eastern District of New York on March 22, 2006; March 29, 2006 and April 5, 2006. No petition or claim was filed between that time and now, with regard to the forfeited sum.
Arnold Budhram was sentenced to three years probation on October 31 and on that same day, the government made the final order of forfeiture part of the conviction and sentence of both Budhrams, although Sabrina, who is seeking a non-custodial sentence, is still to be sentenced.
As a result, the court ordered that the ICE be directed to dispose of the forfeited US$439,792.49 in satisfaction of the Forfeiture Money Judgement in accordance with the laws and regulations.
Sabrina Budhram had admitted to collecting large sums of money from drug traffickers, which her husband Arnold deposited into bank accounts in small sums to avoid filing currency transaction reports (CTR) that help detect money laundering.
Court documents stated that a handwritten “money and drug ledger,” found in the Budhrams‘ home at the time of their arrest, referred to individuals who are believed to be accused drug dealer Roger Khan’s co-conspirators and this may be used as evidence against Khan. The prosecution had told the court that bank records indicated that in 2001, a company associated with the Budhrams transferred money to a bank account in the name of Khan’s wife and child and it appeared that Khan was in direct contact with the Budhrams in early 2003.
The Budhrams were arrested and charged with money laundering on April 6, 2004 and investigators searched their home and work offices and gathered a large amount of evidential material. They were granted US$5 million bail each but were placed under electronic monitoring and are not allowed to leave their home without permission except to go to work. The prosecution had revealed how bank vice-president Arnold Budhram, and the radiology technician Sabrina Budhram, used a company they had set up and their connections to launder money for drug traffickers operating in Guyana.
Sabrina Budhram is the sister of Peter Morgan, who is now facing drug charges in New York after being extradited from Trinidad. Records showed that in at least one case the couple transferred funds in his name.
