(Reuters) – A divided federal appellate court in Richmond, Virginia on Tuesday upheld the conviction of a Baltimore criminal defense lawyer for conspiring to launder drug money.
Kenneth Ravenell was first indicted in 2019 for allegedly helping his drug trafficker client and his associates avoid arrest and launder money
A federal jury in Baltimore convicted Ravenell of conspiracy to commit money laundering in December 2021, but acquitted him on charges of racketeering conspiracy, narcotics conspiracy and others. Two other defendants, lawyer Joshua Treem and private investigator Sean Gordon, were acquitted on all charges.
Federal prosecutors said Ravenell told his clients how they could launder drug proceeds through businesses and real estate investments.
Ravenell argued he had no knowledge of his clients’ drug organizations, and that his clients lied to him about their concert-promoting business, which prosecutors said was a money-laundering front.
Ravenell argued in his appeal that his conviction should be overturned because the government did not prove the conspiracy continued after July 2, 2014, when a five-year statute of limitations expired.
But 4th Circuit judges J. Harvie Wilkinson III and Toby Heytens held that the onus was on Ravenell to show that he ended the conspiracy before the statutory deadline.
“Instead of highlighting the ways in which the conspiracy affirmatively ended, Ravenell attempts to flip the burden back to the government to show continuation via overt acts,” Wilkinson wrote in the majority opinion. “That is not what the law requires.”
The majority held that the judge who oversaw Ravenell’s trial was not required to tell the jury about the statute of limitations.
4th Circuit Chief Judge Roger Gregory dissented. “If the district court had properly instructed the jury, Ravenell could have highlighted this evidence of the conspiracy’s termination in his closing argument, which could have led to his acquittal,” Gregory wrote.
Attorneys for Ravenell and a spokesperson for the Baltimore U.S. attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
The case is USA v. Kenneth Wendell Ravenell, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 22-4369
For USA: Leo Wise, Philip Selden, Zachary Ray and Derek Hines of the U.S. government
For Kenneth Ravenell: David Zornow of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and Peter White of Schulte Roth & Zabel
Read More:
Federal criminal probe into Baltimore defense attorney snags another lawyer
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
