Buffalo Woman Going To Prison For Structuring Financial Transactions

BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Chanetel Garnett, 33, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of structuring transactions, was sentenced to serve 12 months in prison by Chief U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura A. Higgins, who handled the case, stated that between August 8, 2016, and September 6, 2017, the defendant failed properly to report the deposit of more than $100,000 in a 12-month period into numerous Bank of America accounts. Over the 12 months, Garnett traveled to multiple Bank of America branch locations in the Buffalo area and made 165 cash deposits totaling $1,313,270. The defendant conducted as many as eight transactions at separate Bank of America branches in a single day. Garnett did so in order to evade reporting requirements regarding cash deposits in amounts of $10,000 or more.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Jonathan D. Larsen, Special Agent-in-Charge; Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Kelly; the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Ray Donovan, New York Field Division; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Gary Loeffert; the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Timothy Howard; and the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Byron Lockwood.