Auto Dealer Sentenced in Drug Scheme

So here’s the problem. Say you are an up and coming drug dealer with loads of cash on hand – we’ve all seen the dollar amounts seized in busts, it’s piles of hard cash. You can’t just spend it, it’s dirty. What’s worse, you can’t spend it on the stuff you want and need.

After all, every respectable drug dealer needs bling. Bling, in the form of gold, expensive cars and other flash, allows you to show your status in the hood. So what to do?

Enter Jon Lenie at Shawnee Auto Sales. Well, it’s actually Shawnee Auto and Pawn – in Overland Park, just outside of Kansas City. Mr. Lenie carries what drug dealers want and according to testimony, he was willing to help them get it.

Say you need a nice Lexus or you absolutely have to have that $15,000 gold chain. You have the cash. But the nosey IRS requires reporting cash transactions that total more than $10,000. What now? Mr. Lenie had the answer. He’d simply write up an invoice that totaled less than the actual sale price. You paid him the right amount (or maybe a bit more for the service) and you got what you wanted – no nasty IRS paperwork involved. From there, you could even sell the item again legitimately, ending up with clean money for your trouble.

It’s a clever scheme. Mr. Lenie just had to keep his books straight. All the unreported sales could even put money into his account – tax free too. After all, the real dollar amount of the sale isn’t recorded. It was as if people were just handing him money. That is, until a couple of weeks ago when a Judge in District Court handed him something else: 30 months in prison. The conviction was for conspiracy to engage in money laundering. But they still have vehicles for sale at their website if you’re interested.