A former Gold Coast used car dealer has walked free from court after admitting he laundered cash that he “ought to have known” was dirty.
The man admitted he received a $5000 fee for agreeing to clean the cash, reported Brisbane’s Courier Mail newspaper.
Tyrone Francis De Luca, 35, who police allege was a member of the Black Ulhans bikie gang, pleaded guilty to laundering $50,000 of criminal proceeds through a St George bank account he set up for his business, Carsmart in Southport.
At the time of his arrest the father of one was selling motorbikes at Team Moto Honda in Nerang.
Crown prosecutor Phil McCarthy told District Court judge Anthony Rafter the dirty cash De Luca laundered had been defrauded from retirees and investors in a lucrative “boiler room” scam.
McCarthy told the court that authorities “can’t say who the ultimate recipient” of the ill-gotten gains was.
De Luca was “a small cog in the wheel” of a much larger criminal syndicate, involving several other so-called “cash mules” who were paid in either cash or drugs.
De Luca, who now works for a Melbourne company that builds spray painting booths for automotive industry, was sentenced to a wholly suspended one year jail term.
He served 14 days custody after he was arrested.
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