Gold Dealer Pleads Guilty in Money-Laundering Case
The owner of a downtown Los Angeles gold exchange pleaded guilty to federal money-laundering charges on the day he was scheduled to go to trial, prosecutors said.
George Atik, 53, of Pico Rivera, pleaded guilty Tuesday to helping launder drug profits through his precious metals business, Universal Gold Exchange. Prosecutors said Universal was one of a dozen Los Angeles jewelry and gold exchanges involved in an international operation that laundered more than $1 billion from 1985 through 1989.
Atik was arrested in July as part of “Operation Polar Cap,” the largest money-laundering investigation in U.S. history. Atik acknowledged that in February, 1989, he wired more than $200,000 in drug proceeds from Universal Gold to a Boston bank account controlled by Deilor S.A., a Uruguayan firm.
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