A U.S. District Court jury agreed with federal prosecutors Friday that Arvel “Ray” Henderson II conspired with another man to have $500,000 of tainted money deposited into his bank account, convicting him of conspiracy to commit money laundering and four counts of money laundering.
The verdicts were reached by an eight-man, four-woman jury after 2½ hours of deliberations.
The jury agreed Henderson, 48, of Holland, conspired with Mark Wittenmyer to have the money deposited into Henderson’s account. Evidence showed the two had money laundered and wired to the Ritz-Carlton in Fort Lauderdale, the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, and Jared jeweler's in Toledo.
“When it's diamonds and pearls time and you're getting a cashier's check out of your bank account for $20,000-plus dollars, where do you think the money's coming from? Did it drop from the sky?” Gene Crawford, an assistant U.S. attorney, asked the jury in his closing argument.
Henderson, a real estate agent with Re/Max Central Group, looked down and shook his head as the five guilty verdicts were announced just after 2:30 p.m.
U.S District Court Judge Jeffrey Helmick did not schedule Henderson's sentencing but said he would set a hearing in the next week or two to discuss how the attorneys wished to proceed with a separate criminal case pending against Henderson in which he is charged with bankruptcy fraud, concealment of bankruptcy assets, and theft of government funds.
Mr. Crawford was pleased with the jury's verdicts.
“Money laundering is a serious offense,” he said. “It's one the FBI and the IRS investigate and will continue to investigate, and, in appropriate cases, we will prosecute.”
Mr. Crawford argued to the jury that others who were drawn into Wittenmyer's bond deal either lost money or risked losing money. Henderson, he said, was “in a class by himself” because he got money from Wittenmyer.
And federal prosecutors contended that Henderson, as real estate agent, was used to earning commissions for selling houses. In this case however, he did nothing to earn the $500,000 that was portrayed as a commission by some, a consulting fee by others.
“His entire livelihood up until that point was based on a key principle: You get paid when the deal closes,” Noah Hood, another assistant U.S. attorney, said. “No deal closed here, but he still got paid.”
Defense attorney Martin McManus told the jury Wittenmyer was the criminal in the case, not Henderson. He argued that Wittenmyer had a 20-year history of defrauding people, of using people like Henderson as pawns in his financial schemes.
Mr. McManus argued there was no agreement between Henderson and Wittenmyer to launder money, that Henderson did not know the source of the money. He said if other individuals drawn into the phony bond deal by Wittenmyer didn't believe anything illegal was going on, why would Henderson?
“If you find that Ray knew the money was criminally derived, you have to find that Ray was the only person Mark Wittenmyer didn't keep in the dark,” Mr. McManus said.
Wittenmyer, 55, pleaded guilty in 2016 to seven counts of money laundering, and one count each of conspiracy, access device fraud, and money laundering conspiracy. Judge Helmick sentenced him last month to 6½ years in prison and ordered him to pay more than $8 million in restitution.
Mr. McManus declined to comment after the verdicts were announced. Henderson was allowed to remain free on bond.
Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.
First Published February 23, 2018, 10:06 p.m.
