Former Dallas attorney sentenced for laundering $380,000 for undercover agent
A Dallas lawyer was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring to launder money he believed was linked to drug trafficking, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas said in a press release this week.
Rayshun Jackson, 52, is a former defense attorney who ran The Jackson Law Firm. Jackson was arrested in April 2021 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money in September 2021. Chief U.S. District Barbara M.G. Lynn sentenced Jackson on Tuesday.
Jackson admitted to laundering $380,000 for a person he believed was a drug trafficker, according to the press release, but was actually an undercover DEA agent.
“Mr. Jackson agreed to launder what he believed to be drug proceeds with DEA undercover,” said DEA Dallas Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chávez. “The sentencing of Mr. Jackson is just. With overdose deaths and poisonings reaching record highs, everyone will be held accountable for their criminal actions.”
The leader of a large-scale opioid distribution ring, referred to as “Person A” in court documents, introduced Jackson to an undercover agent posing as a someone who needed drug money to be laundered. Jackson and the undercover agent talked about how Jackson could “clean” the agent’s “dope money,” the press release says. Jackson told the agent he could launder around $500,000 a month by funneling it through non-traceable cash businesses like coin laundries and car washes and through shell corporations.
“Ray is the bomb... He’s a thug, he’s just got a law degree,” “Person A” told the undercover agent after the meeting, according to court documents.
Three weeks later, the undercover agent delivered a black backpack stuffed with $100,000 cash to Jackson at his office. Jackson agreed to launder the money for a 4% fee and a 1% bonus in cash up front, according to the release. After depositing the remaining $95,000 into his various firm bank accounts, Jackson eventually transferred the entire sum into the DEA’s undercover bank account.
The next month, the attorney laundered an additional $285,000 cash for the undercover agent, according to court documents.
According to plea papers, Jackson admitted he knew of the unlawful purpose of the agreement and joined in it willingly.
The Supreme Court of Texas canceled Jackson’s law license and ordered that he be prohibited from practicing law in Texas on Nov. 9, 2021.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Office and IRS – Criminal Investigations conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Dallas Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Courtney Coker prosecuted the case along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Juanita Fielden.
This story was originally published August 18, 2022 at 1:10 PM.
