Khamraj Lall of Ringwood, New Jersey, was found guilty sentenced today to 156 months in prison by a federal jury in Trenton of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and money laundering, among other crimes. Lall owned a now-defunct private jet charter business called Exec Jet Club based in Gainesville, Florida, and used the proceeds of his cocaine empire to purchase jets, houses, and cars, according to the indictment. He also paid more than $2 million in cash to a Florida contractor to build a hangar in Guyana.
According to the indictment, in November 2014 Lall was flying one of his jets from the U.S. to Guyana and stopped in Puerto Rico to refuel. A search of the airplane uncovered $470,000 in cash in a suitcase hidden in the tail of the airplane, and another $150,000 in cash hidden under a passenger seat.
Over a 3-½ year period, Lall and his associates also made 1,287 cash deposits totalling approximately $7.5 million into more than 20 different bank accounts in New Jersey and New York, much of it in $20 bills. In order to avoid detection and circumvent bank reporting laws, all 1,287 deposits were for amounts less than $10,000.
U.S. District Judge Anne Thompson imposed a sentence of 13 years in prison for trafficking hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into New Jersey and New York and then laundering more than $10.2 million in cash drug proceeds. In addition, Thompson sentenced Lall to five years of supervised release.
The Court previously ordered Lall to forfeit his interest in two jets, two airplane hangars, and multiple properties traceable to his crimes. The court also entered a monetary judgment against Lall for $9.3 million.