A downtown Los Angeles company and two executives are facing multi-million-dollar fines and prison time after being convicted of money laundering and evading customs duties and taxes.
C’est Toi Jeans Inc., based in the Fashion District downtown, “avoid[ed] the payment of more than $8 million in customs duties on imported clothing” and “laundered money and failed to report on tax returns more than $17 million derived from cash transactions,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release on Tuesday announcing the sentences.
At least some of those cash transactions involved “bulk cash that was derived from drug trafficking as payment for customer invoices,” prosecutors added.
The convictions came after a six-week trial in October 2024.
As a result, CTJ President Si Oh Rhew was sentenced to eight years and seven months in federal prison. The 71-year-old Rhew, a resident of La Cañada Flintridge, was also fined $8 million and ordered to pay more than $19 million in restitution.
Rhew’s 38-year-old son, downtown Los Angeles resident and CTJ corporate officer Lance Rhew, was sentenced to seven years in federal prison, fined $500,000 and ordered to pay an undisclosed amount of restitution.
Additionally, the company was sentenced to five years of probation and federal monitoring, as well as being ordered to pay a $11.5 million fine and more than $15 million in restitution.
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