Years of Jail Time as Firefighters are Killed and a Major Money Laundering Operation is Busted

Innocent Firefighters Killed in a Tragic Motor Accident 

A man in his mid-twenties mowed down a group of Monegasque firefighters who were on a leisure motorcycle tour. Two had been injured, two others killed.

In court he glared guiltily but without compassion at the mother and relatives of the victims. An attitude which left a definite feeling of distaste in the courtroom. 

The two surviving bikers came to testify at the bar. And more painful still were the testimonies of relatives of the victims. The driver was positive for cannabis and he admitted to drinking daily. 

To explain that his vehicle left its lane and violently hit the group of bikers head on, he claimed to have fallen asleep while driving. The Court had difficulty believing it. Maybe he was on the phone while driving his van, in addition to being under the influence of cannabis? 

His defence was he was a “good father” and was coming out of an exhausting construction site. He pleaded accidental fatigue. And he maintained the traces of cannabis found in his blood did not explain the tragedy. The prosecutor challenged and recalled that cannabis is at the origin of 20% of fatal accidents and causes over 600 deaths each year on the road.

The perpetrator was finally sentenced to five years in prison, including a part on probation. His license was taken away and he has an obligation to cure his cannabis addiction and to compensate the victims: tens of thousands of euros to the families already , while waiting for the final amount of compensation to be decided.

Money Laundering Via a Million Boxes of Gloves

A very suspicious character was scouting outside many of the higher-end luxury boutiques in the centre of Monaco. 

The Police stopped him to investigate and soon found their suspicions justified. He had 20.000 euros in 50 euro notes on him and about 20 credit cards of dubious authenticity.

This was just the tip of the iceberg. The outline of a major money laundering operation started to appear – purchase of a million boxes of gloves at over 4.50€ per unit? Falsification of invoices and VAT. And over 175.000€ hidden in his house and a luxury car at his disposal in Monaco. 

It all added up to a sinister set of illegal activities including bank accounts set up with illegal documents. And having more than 10.000 euros undeclared is an offense too. The Court came down heavily as there were no convincing answers to create any doubt about the network of illegal activities the criminal was engaged in. 

18 months in prison, confiscation of funds plus a 10.000 euro fine was looking this criminal in the eye.