Date: March 12, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov CINCINNATI — A Cincinnati man pleaded guilty in U.S. District to charges related to trafficking fentanyl and laundering the proceeds. Nathaniel Williams admitted he possessed with the intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and committed money laundering. His plea agreement includes a recommended 10-year prison sentence. According to court documents, in August 2023, Williams told an undercover agent that he had bulk amounts of cash from trafficking fentanyl and was looking for ways to transfer the money into the banking system. Williams provided cash from his narcotics sales to the undercover agent, who then wired $15,120 of the funds into Williams’s bank account via a wire transfer. Williams withdrew $10,000 of the funds in cash a few days later. On Oct. 18, 2023, agents discovered more than $44,000 in cash at Williams’s residence while executing a search warrant. Officials also recovered approximately 527 grams of fentanyl and fentanyl mixtures in a secret furniture compartment. Williams was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2023. Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Karen Wingerd, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (CI), Cincinnati Field Office; and Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge announced the guilty plea entered on March 11 before U.S. District Judge Matthew W. McFarland. Assistant United States Attorney Timothy S. Mangan is representing the United States in this case. This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, and gangs that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multiagency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
