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Kenneth Wendell Ravenell, 63, was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit money laundering conspiracy charge after being convicted on Dec. 28, 2021, according to the Department of Justice.
Ravenell had taken proceeds from clients and associates who engaged in drug trafficking and used bank accounts of the law firm to receive drug payments and make payments to attorneys retained to represent other members involved.
Funds from the law firm's bank accounts were also concealed and misrepresented to be able to make investments on behalf of a drug trafficker client.
From 2009 to 2014, Ravenell gave advice to a drug dealer on how to launder millions of dollars of cash that marijuana sales had generated, advising him to set up businesses and make investment in real estate projects.
The drug dealer took Ravenell's advice and focused on businesses in the entertainment industry, organizing concerts and events. Drug proceeds were able to be used to pay for venue rental, entertainers, and food and beverages. Attendees who paid in cash offered yet another opportunity to launder money from the marijuana sales.
The drug dealer became a formal client of Ravenell after an arrest in 2011, and used the firm's attorney trust account to accept more than $1.8 million in drug proceeds. Ravenell transferred over $1.2 million of the drug proceeds from the account to various sources to benefit the drug dealer client.
Ravenell and the drug dealer worked together to conceal the laundering to conceal the on-going marijuana distribution activities.
In 2013, a client facing narcotics charges was directed by Ravenell to pay a fee of over $350,000 in drug proceeds through an associate, converting money into various instruments to conceal the source. The client learned that only $187,000 of the $350,000 had been credited to the case after Ravenell withdrew from the case.
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