Man and woman plead guilty to evading financial reporting requirements

BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — A Wyoming County man and a woman from Raleigh County each pleaded guilty to structuring transactions with one or more domestic financial institutions.

They both admitted to making bank deposits from drug money to get out of certain reporting requirements for transactions.

According to court documents, Merrick Rice, 43, of Mullens, and Miranda Aliff, 32, of Rock Creek, who were both in a relationship, got involved in a conspiracy to sell marijuana and other drugs in and around Mullens. This started towards the beginning or in the middle of 2019.

Aliff admitted that Rice would get the marijuana in bulk from Jack Paskin, 33, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Paskin would send the marijuana to them. The marijuana came from different places, which included Oregon and California.

Rice came up with a corporation with the West Virginia Secretary of State on March 2, 2020. The corporation, She Paints Quite a Lot LLC, was made for a one member liability, in which Aliff was the corporation’s only member.

The following day, Paskin, Rice, and Aliff went to a bank in Beckley and opened a business bank account for the corporation. Paskin and Aliff were signers on that bank account.

Rice and Aliff both admitted that the corporation that was created had nothing to do with business, but only to put in money that was made from selling marijuana and other drugs to give to Paskin. Rice and Aliff and others would put in deposits of less than $10,000 in the bank account that they opened at the Beckley bank. This was going on from March 17, 2020 and continued through August 13, 2020. There were 27 transactions made during this time, which came out to $228,000. Both Rice and Aliff said this was done to avoid certain reporting requirements for transactions. The $228,000 was from drug money.

Between June 1, 2020 and June 23, 2020, six different times, Rice instructed other people who were depositing an amount of $54,000 into the account by telling them to make deposits of $9,000 during those times. He further admitted that the amount that was deposited into the account on June 23, 2020 was to avoid those reporting requirements for certain transactions made.

According to Aliff, she and Rice also bought a total of 111 U.S. Postal Service money orders, which came out to $109,000 as a way to pay Paskin. Both would drive to different post offices in Raleigh County where Aliff would buy a money order at each one, totaling $1,000 each. Aliff further admitted that Rice showed her how to avoid certain transaction reporting requirements that is required for institutions like that, especially when it is $3,000 or more. Rice also got other people involved to go to these post offices to make the money orders.

Those money orders were made out to Paskin, in which he used a business entity called Akashic Connections. When Rice would make a money order of $8,000, he would deposit it at a bank in Beckley into either Paskin’s account or under Paskins business account name.

Both Rice and Aliff will be sentenced on August 30, 2024. Both face a maximum penalty of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.

Paskin was indicted on February 21, 2024 with conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He is still waiting for his trial.

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