News Release
March 15, 2007
Erin Mulvey
Public Information Officer
212 337-2906

International Money Manager Sentenced To 4 Years In Prison For Laundering Narcotics Proceeds In Government Sting

MAR 15 -- (New York) JOHN P. GILBRIDE, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that MARTIN TREMBLAY was sentenced on March 14, 2007 to 48 months in prison for violating federal money-laundering laws by agreeing to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of narcotics proceeds as part of a federal sting operation.

DEA Special Agent in Charge Gilbride stated, “This sentencing proves that DEA and our law enforcement partners in the Strike Force are committed to identifying those individuals who launder the profit that drug organizations reap.” SAC Gilbride commended the work of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force which is comprised of agents and officers of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, the New York City Police Department, the United States Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the Department of Homeland Security Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York State Police, the United States Marshals Service, the United State Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

United States District Judge JOHN F. KEENAN, who imposed the sentence in Manhattan federal court, also ordered TREMBLAY to pay a fine of $12,500 and to forfeit $220,000 in proceeds of this criminal activity. According to documents filed in this case and statement made by TREMBLAY during his November 2006 guilty plea: TREMBLAY, a 43 year-old Canadian national, was the former President and Managing Director of the Bahamas-based investment firm Dominion Investments. Prior to TREMBLAY’s arrest on January 20, 2006, Dominion Investments was an investment services provider and financial advisor incorporated in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, licensed by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, and a member of the Bahamas Financial Services Board. According to its website, Dominion Investments was a "leader in the offshore financial services" market, offering clients "the knowledge and expertise they need to effectively use international tax planning, asset protection, and other wealth preservation techniques."

TREMBLAY was arrested as a result of an undercover sting operation conducted by the New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force (the "Strike Force") in 2005. During the investigation, the Strike Force videotaped a meeting between undercover IRS agents and TREMBLAY, in which they discussed the laundering of large amounts of money earned from narcotics sales. Approximately $220,000 was eventually wire transferred by federal agents to Dominion Investments-related accounts.

During his guilty plea before Judge KEENAN, TREMBLAY admitted that in March 2005, in Manhattan, he met with undercover agents, who requested his assistance to launder what were represented to be the proceeds of narcotics trafficking. TREMBLAY admitted that, in May 2005, he received a wire transfer from a business the undercover agents said they used to launder the narcotics trafficking proceeds.