When a lawyer claims that he or she was unaware that something is against the law, they may have a tougher time in maintaining their ignorance. If they cross the line, they can be facing jail time.

The August 11th ABA E-Journal Report here has a superb story on the recent decision of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in  United States v. Flores here where an attorney was sentenced to 32 months imprisonment following convictions for conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, and conspiracy to structure a currency transaction.

Perhaps the most telling evidence against the attorney is noted in the court’s statement that, "Flores received a letter from the Republic National Bank explaining what ‘structured’ transactions are and why they are illegal, and informing him that ‘when an account receives a large incoming wire and immediately sends an outgoing wire or wires for approximately the same amount, without apparent commercial justification, it mirrors the activity of an account opened by money launderers’;"

(esp) (w/ a hat tip to my colleague Professor Clark Furlow)