BALTIMORE — Today, Kenneth Ravenell, 61, was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering conspiracy charge by a District Judge.
Ravenell was convicted of that charge on Dec. 28,2021, after a 16-day trial.
The trial proved that the former defense attorney received drug proceeds from clients and associates who engaged in drug trafficking. Evidence was also presented that Ravenell used bank accounts of the law firm to launder more than a million dollars.
He used the law firm's bank accounts to receive drug payments and make payments to attorneys retained to represent other members of the conspiracy.
According to trial evidence, Ravenell received substantial cash payments coming from drug sales as compensation for laundering money.
The trial showed that from 2009 through 2014, Ravenell gave a drug dealer advice on how to launder millions of dollars of cash that the dealer's marijuana sales generated.
The drug dealer’s business activities were mainly in entertainment, where he organized concerts and other events.
Ravenell and the drug dealer discussed all aspects of these events and the drug dealer’s entertainment-related activities, including the use of drug proceeds to fund the events and the mixing of drug proceeds with ticket sales.
In 2011, the drug dealer was arrested and became a formal client of the law firm where Ravenell was a partner at the time.
Ravenell accepted more than $1.8 million in drug proceeds and funds co-mingled with drug proceeds from people associated with the drug dealer.
His purpose in accepting and disbursing these funds was to conceal the source of the funds as drug proceeds and promote his client’s on-going marijuana distribution activities.
According to trial evidence in 2013, a client facing federal narcotics charges paid Ravenell more than $350,000 in drug proceeds through an associate of the client. Ravenell instructed the associate to convert the drug proceeds into money orders and other instruments to conceal the source of the money.
After Ravenell withdrew from the case, the client learned that Ravenell had only credited $187,000 to his case, not the more than $350,000 that the client had paid.
READ MORE: Defense attorney Kenneth Ravenell appears in court
