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 Daryan and Daryll Warner, sons of former FIFA Vice President Jack
Warner, and their associates deposited more than $600,000 in cash at
bank branches in New York, Miami and Las Vegas in the second half of
2011, according to a 2012 complaint in U.S. District Court in New
York that was unsealed on Wednesday.
In one two-day period, the pair parked $128,313.38 in 23 separate
deposits into accounts at Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank
and Wells Fargo through the use of tellers and ATMs.
The complaint against the Warners, who are citizens of Trinidad and
Tobago, showed that they made sure none of their deposits exceeded
the $10,000 threshold above which banks have to file a report to
U.S. authorities.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice charged nine officials
at FIFA, the global body governing soccer, and five corporate
executives with running a criminal enterprise that involved more
than $150 million in bribes.
Daryan Warner, one of a group of four others who had pleaded guilty,
became a cooperating witness in the FBI's probe. This was first
reported by Reuters in 2013.
Banks will also be looked at in the investigation, authorities said
on Wednesday, though it was too early to say whether there had been
any wrongdoing.
The U.S. indictment alleged that the defendants relied heavily on
the U.S. banking system to avoid detection, in often complex schemes
with fake invoices and numbered accounts, at banks across the globe.
In one case, a teller at a JPMorgan Chase branch on New York's
Broadway said she had asked somebody for his driver's license when
he wanted to deposit 7,500 euros, which at the time translated to an
amount just above the reporting threshold.
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The person then asked to be handed back 500 euros, which lowered the
sum to $9,336.60. Earlier that day, a similar amount had been
deposited at JPMorgan in Queens. The following day, another 7,000
euros was deposited at the Broadway branch.
Daryll Warner in his guilty plea admitted that he had deliberately
broken up deposits into amounts of less than $10,000 to avoid the
reporting requirements.
JPMorgan declined comment. Wells Fargo and Bank of America did not
immediately return a request for comment. Citi has said it has
cooperated with Justice.
(Reporting by Douwe Miedema; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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