The National Law Journal reports that Robert George, of Westwood, Massachusetts, faces 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and up to $500,000 in fines following the verdict.
Short deliberation
George also faces an additional five years for a structuring charge relating to parcelling out large transactions to smaller ones.
He declined to comment on the verdict, but his lawyer, Kevin Reddington, said that Judge Nathanial Gorton of the District of Massachusetts ‘gave Bob a fair trial’. However, he criticised the jury’s verdict, which was returned after only four and a half hours of deliberations.
‘I don’t know how after a two-week trial with all the exhibits and videos they could have deliberated this case in such a … fashion,’ he said. ‘But that’s what we have appeal courts for.’
The US government charged Mr George and an unnamed co-conspirator in March last year with concealing more than $225,000 in drugs proceeds; he was indicted the following month. The co-conspirator was then revealed to be mortgage broker Michael Hansen, who has also been convicted and will be sentenced on 16 July.
Straying
The newspaper report also highlights a March 2011 order denying George’s motion to dismiss, which shows he ultimately pocketed $20,000 for laundering $200,000, with Hansen keeping $40,000.
Assistant US attorney Laura Kaplan, who delivered the government’s closing argument, said: ‘This is a case about a 30-year member of the bar, an attorney who strayed far, far afield from the law.’
George will be sentenced on 19 September.
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