Saco Man Sentenced to Over a Year in Jail For Money Laundering

U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Maine
2 April 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Daniel J. Perry
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 780-3257

Portland, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Michael Paul, Jr., 45, of Saco, Maine, was sentenced on Tuesday in U.S. District Court by Judge George Z. Singal to one year and one day in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for money laundering conspiracy. He pled guilty to the charge on April 1, 2014.

According to court records and proceedings, from August 2011 through October 2013, David Jones obtained hundreds of pounds of marijuana from an out-of-state source and distributed it in Maine. Paul laundered about $39,000 in drug proceeds belonging to Jones by putting the funds through Paul’s business, Michael Paul Foundations, and by purchasing a truck in Paul’s name using drug proceeds and then transferring the truck to Jones.

This case results from a joint investigation conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Portland Police Department and the ongoing effort of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.