A series of allegedly sham transactions over six years prove that a politically connected Rosemont businessman laundered cash and defrauded the Internal Revenue Service, federal prosecutors contended Thursday in closing arguments.
But the attorney for defendant Nick S. Boscarino said his client thought the money was a legitimate finder’s fee for helping a broker get Rosemont’s insurance business.
After two weeks of testimony, a federal jury is scheduled to begin deliberations Friday to decide the fate of Boscarino, a former business partner and friend of Rosemont Mayor Donald E. Stephens. Boscarino is charged with 17 counts of money laundering, conspiracy and filing false tax returns. A wire-fraud count was dismissed during the trial.
The verdict could hinge on whether jurors believe Boscarino knew that insurance broker Ralph Aulenta built in an undisclosed fee that cheated Rosemont typically out of $50,000 a year from 1990 to 1996.
Aulenta pleaded guilty last month to money-laundering and tax-fraud charges and agreed to cooperate with authorities in the hopes of getting a reduced sentence.
But in testifying at trial, Aulenta denied he ever told Boscarino he was cheating Rosemont to obtain the $50,000 that the two split. In addition, Aulenta agreed with the defense that Boscarino wouldn’t have cheated Rosemont for fear of hurting his friendship with Stephens and his many business interests with the village.
“He has million-dollar businesses in Rosemont, and he’s going to throw that away for $25,000 [a year]?” Boscarino’s lawyer, Patrick Tuite, asked jurors. “It makes no sense.”
But prosecutors Stephen Andersson and Patrick Layng said jurors just have to follow the convoluted paper trail left by Boscarino and Aulenta to hide their tracks from Aulenta’s employer, Rosemont and the IRS.
If the money was truly a finder’s fee, why wasn’t a check for Boscarino’s half-share made payable in Boscarino’s name, Andersson asked. And why would Aulenta contend in his company records that the money was a return of premium from Rosemont, he also asked the jury.
Instead, in the first couple of years of the scheme, the check went to a Boscarino company–O.G. Services Corp., Andersson said.
But instead of depositing the money in O.G. Services’ bank account, the check went into Aulenta’s account and was then turned into “untraceable cash,” Andersson said.
“This, ladies and gentlemen, is Money Laundering 101,” Andersson told jurors. After Boscarino learned in 1993 that he was a target of a federal investigation and several of his businesses were subpoenaed, he told Aulenta the following year the $50,000 check couldn’t be made payable to O.G. Services, he said.
