In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Christopher Lopez, the owner of C&D Motorsports, and his employee, Michael Torres, have been sentenced for money laundering. Lopez, 41, received a 366-day prison sentence, while Torres, 43, was sentenced to six months. Both will serve one year of supervised release after their prison terms.
The sentencing, handed down by United States District Court Judge Jennifer P. Wilson on January 23, 2025, follows an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) that began in 2019. The investigation revealed that C&D Motorsports catered to drug traffickers, selling vehicles without filing the required currency transaction reports for cash sales over $10,000.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, undercover IRS agents posed as a drug trafficker and his girlfriend during meetings with Lopez and Torres. They discussed using drug money to buy a vehicle and omitting the trafficker's name from the paperwork. The vehicle was ultimately titled in a third party's name.
A federal grand jury indicted Lopez and Torres in February 2022. After a four-day trial in February 2024, both were found guilty of conspiring to launder over $33,000 from cocaine sales. The Department of Justice emphasized the importance of this case as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation, which aims to dismantle high-level criminal organizations.
Amy MacNeely, Acting Special Agent in Charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation Philadelphia Field Office, stated, "IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to unraveling complex financial transactions and money laundering schemes where individuals attempt to conceal the true source of their money." The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christian Haugsby and Joseph Terz.