A former fire marshal with the Chicago Fire Department has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for making multiple small deposits totaling almost $350,000 in several banks to avoid federal reporting requirements.
Antuane King, 49, was convicted in February on two counts of structuring a currency transaction; each count is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Prosecutors said King made over 37 separate cash deposits just below $10,000 into eight different bank accounts to avoid having the banks file currency transaction reports. He later used the money to buy three homes in Homewood, Lynwood and Markham.
U.S. District Judge Jorge L. Alonso said the offense was serious and King showed his actions were premeditated, since they went on for months.
“Mr. King has a lot to lose and I don’t know if it was greed, loyalty, fear or some combination of those that he decided to risk everything,” Alonso said at the hearing Friday. “And that is what he did. It was a calculated crime, it was a scheme that went on for a number of months. It wasn’t impulsive. It was deliberative.”
But Alonso ultimately determined 14 months was sufficient since it wasn’t a violent crime, King had no history of criminal behavior and had been a firefighter for almost two decades. He believed the “sentence was sufficient but not greater than necessary.”
Federal prosecutors had sought a two-year prison sentence.
Banks and other financial institutions must report to the government any deposits more than $10,000 and by making multiple deposits just under that limit — called “structuring” — King evaded federal reporting requirements.
Under terms of his sentence, Alonso also will give up two of the homes he purchased. Federal prosecutors claim King stripped the residences of most fixtures, causing the homes to devalue, once he learned he would have to forfeit them.
In February, King was still on the Chicago Fire Department’s payroll making a $99,324 salary, but was off those books as of Friday, according to city records. He was an employee of the Office of Fire Investigation.
CFD didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Manny Ramos is a corps member in Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster Sun-Times coverage of issues affecting Chicago’s South and West sides.
