Date: March 21, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov On March 20, a Miami pawn shop owner was charged by criminal complaint with money laundering and operating a money transmitting business without a license. As alleged in the criminal complaint and underlying criminal complaint affidavit, Andrey Perov, of Miami, Florida, owned Bee Pawn LLC, a pawn shop in Miami and Hard Rock Giffies, a pawn shop in Hollywood, Florida. Allegedly, from Jan. 27, 2021, through June 3, 2021, Perov or an associate of Perov, at the direction of Perov, laundered $110,000 that Perov believed were drug proceeds. The charging documents further allege that, from Dec. 17, 2021, through Nov. 22, 2022, an associate of Perov, under his direction, redeemed approximately $540,000 worth of purportedly stolen or fraudulent gift cards. Furthermore, from 2017 through March 20, 2024, Perov allegedly redeemed approximately $53,000,000 in gift cards and money orders and failed to obtain the required federal or state license in order act as a money transmitting business, as stated in the charging documents. Perov made his initial appearance on March 20 in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale. Perov faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of $500,000 or up to twice the value of the property involved in the transactions with respect to the conspiracy to commit money laundering charge. Perov also faces up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the operating a money transmitting business without a license charge. U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Matthew D. Line of the IRS Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), Miami Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI, Miami Field Office, made the announcement. IRS-CI, Miami Field Office and FBI Miami investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Schwartz and Jeffrey N. Kaplan are prosecuting it. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marx Calderon is handling asset forfeiture. A criminal complaint contains mere allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
