Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : 2 Israelis Sentenced for Laundering Drug Profits
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Two Israelis were sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges that they operated a scheme to launder more than $22 million in illegal narcotics profits.
Avraham Zarchia, 38, and Izhak Edri of North Hollywood each had faced up to 45 years in prison and $1.25 million in fines.
A third defendant, Rivka Edri, Izhak Edri’s wife, pleaded guilty in February and has been sentenced to five years of probation.
The ring laundered money by shipping cashier’s checks to a Panamanian financial institution tied to a Colombian drug organization, Assistant U.S. Atty. Bonnie S. Klapper said.
The sentences were imposed by U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts, who in February accepted their pleas to charges of illegal movement of cash inside and out of the United States.
Under her sentence, Rivka Edri may remain under supervised probation in the United States to allow her four children to finish the current academic year. After that, she must leave the country.
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