Former Police Officer Charged with Running Illegal Money Transmitting Business

A two-count information was filed against Martin J. Rudin, age 41, of Willoughby Hills, Ohio, charging one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and one count of structuring, Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced today.

As set forth in the information, Rudin, a former police officer with the Cleveland Police Department, owned and managed a check cashing business known as “R Check Cashing.” This business primarily cashed checks for temporary employees and operated without a proper license in compliance with Ohio law.

The second count of the information, alleging structuring, arises from Rudin cashing several checks in denominations just below $10,000 to avoid the preparation of currency transaction reports which are required for financial transactions exceeding $10,000.

The filing of an information means that a defendant has waived his or her right to have their case presented to a federal grand jury. If convicted, the sentence in this case may be determined by the court after consideration of the advisory Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which depend upon a number of factors unique to each case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense, and the unique characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert J. Patton following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service in Cleveland, Ohio.

An information is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.