- 6 -
released from prison in 1981. After this initial episode,
petitioner maintained a social and business relationship with Sam
Gilbert.
By November 1983, petitioner had become deeply involved in
laundering Ben's marijuana smuggling profits. He met with Sam
Gilbert in a Beverly Hills hotel to discuss a plan to launder $12
million in drug smuggling profits5 through a British Virgin
Islands (BVI) entity, to a bank in Liechtenstein. This bank
turned the funds into a seemingly legitimate "construction loan"
so that Ben, through various entities, was able to invest the
proceeds in the Bell Gardens Bicycle Club, Inc. (the card club),
a legal, State regulated gambling enterprise, without revealing
his participation. Another BVI entity, Troon Mortgage
Investments, N.V. (Troon Mortgage), run by Shaun (or Shawn)
Murphy (Murphy), subsequently held the note as a vehicle through
which Ben could recover the $12 million principal, 15 percent
interest on the loan, and an additional 15-percent "kicker".
Ben and Sam Gilbert, along with M. Dale Lyon (Lyon) and
Michael Gilbert, the "front men" used to obtain the gambling
license for the card club, later formed the entities used to
conceal Ben's supposed ownership role in the card club. Sam
5Ben's share of these funds was $4 million. The other $8
million came from his partners in the drug smuggling enterprise,
Randy Lanier and "Tommy", also known as George Brock. By his own
testimony, petitioner was to control the laundering of these
funds. Petitioner and Ben met Tommy in New York in Sept. 1983 to
convince Tommy to invest in the Bell Gardens Bicycle Club, Inc.,
discussed infra.
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