What is money mule activity

| by Max Soni

Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group. We’re a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek – with over 40 years of combined experience handling federal criminal defense cases. Our firm has represented clients in cases that captured national attention, like the Anna Delvey Netflix series, the Ghislaine Maxwell juror misconduct case, and the Alec Baldwin stalking matter. If you’re reading this, you probably need answers about money mule activity – and you need them now.

Money mule activity sounds like something from an old Western movie. It’s not. It’s a federal crime that destroys lives, and in 2025, prosecutors are coming after money mules harder than ever before. This article explains what money mule activity actually is, how federal prosecutors charge it, what kind of prison time you’re looking at, and why you need a defense attorney who understands this area of federal law.

What Money Mule Activity Actually Means

A money mule is someone who moves illegally obtained money on behalf of someone else. Sometimes they know exactly what they’re doing – they’re part of the scheme from the beginning. Other times, they get recruited through job postings, romance scams, or promises of easy money, and they genuinely don’t realize they’re laundering criminal proceeds. Federal prosecutors don’t care much about that distinction.

According to FinCEN’s September 2025 notice on financially motivated sextortion, money mules receive victim payments through peer-to-peer transfers, wire transfers, money services businesses, or mail – then they layer these funds through the financial system by moving them across multiple accounts. The typical setup involves the mule keeping about 20 percent as a “fee” for their services. That percentage is important, that percentage is what prosecutors use to prove you knew this wasn’t legitimate.

The schemes money mules support are brutal. Romance scams where elderly victims lose their retirement savings. Business email compromise schemes that drain company accounts. Government imposter frauds targeting seniors. FinCEN’s August 2025 advisory on Chinese money laundering networks shows how sophisticated these operations have become – counterfeit passports to open accounts, trade-based laundering, mirror transactions that make tracing funds nearly impossible.

The Federal Charges You Face

Money mule activity gets prosecuted under several federal statutes. Wire fraud under 18 USC 1343. Bank fraud under 18 USC 1344. Money laundering under 18 USC 1956 or 1957. Conspiracy to commit any of these offenses under 18 USC 371.

Section 1956 violations – that’s the primary money laundering statute – carry up to 20 years in federal prison and fines up to $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved, whichever is greater. Section 1957 violations carry up to 10 years and fines up to $250,000 or twice the value of the transaction. These aren’t theoretical maximums, these are real sentences that judges hand down every month.

The Department of Justice’s Money Mule Initiative – now in its third year – shows how aggressive federal enforcement has become. In their most recent operation, federal agencies interviewed more than 550 individuals, served over 500 warning letters, and criminally charged more than 30 people for receiving victim payments and providing fraud proceeds to accomplices. Between October 2021 and July 2025, Homeland Security Investigations received 8,483 tips related to sextortion schemes involving money mules, leading to 854 victim identifications, 232 criminal arrests, 96 indictments, and 16 convictions.

What this means for you – if you moved money for someone else and received a percentage, federal investigators already have your banking records. They have wire transfer records showing exactly where the money came from and where it went. They have records of the “fees” you kept. They probably have cooperating witnesses who will testify you knew what you were doing.

Prison Time and Financial Penalties in 2025

Let’s talk about actual sentences, not theoretical maximums. Recent money mule cases from 2023-2024 show what defendants actually receive. One 29-year-old defendant got 3 years and 10 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering. Another money mule received one year and one day in prison plus three years of supervised release for laundering proceeds from a call center fraud scheme. A recruiter and director of money mules – someone who brought other mules into the operation – received 24 months in federal prison.

The average minimum sentence for money laundering offenses in 2023 was 71 months according to U.S. Sentencing Commission data. That’s nearly six years. First-time offenders who laundered relatively small amounts might see one to several years. Laundering large amounts can result in 10 to 20 years in federal prison. In 2024, 89 percent of all federal cases resulted in prison time – this isn’t an offense where you walk away with probation.

Financial penalties devastate defendants even after they serve their time. The $500,000 statutory maximum is just the starting point – courts can impose fines equal to twice the value of the laundered property. If you moved $2 million through your accounts, even if you only kept $400,000 as your “fee,” you could face a $4 million fine. Restitution to victims comes on top of that. Civil asset forfeiture means the government seizes everything you bought with the proceeds – cars, houses, jewelry, bank accounts.

How Federal Prosecutors Build These Cases

Banks report suspicious activity to FinCEN – that’s the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. They file Suspicious Activity Reports when they see red flags. Multiple large deposits followed immediately by withdrawals or transfers to foreign accounts. Payments from strangers with no apparent business relationship. Rapid movement of funds through multiple accounts. Use of money services businesses or cryptocurrency kiosks to layer transactions.

FinCEN doesn’t just collect these reports and file them away. They analyze patterns, they share information with federal prosecutors, they build cases. The August 2025 advisory on Chinese money laundering networks describes in detail how investigators track these schemes – following the money through multiple jurisdictions, identifying the entire network of mules, building conspiracy charges that ensnare everyone involved.

Defense attorneys see the same pattern in money mule prosecutions. Client gets approached with a “job opportunity” – work from home, receive payments, forward most of the money but keep a percentage. Or client meets someone online who needs help moving money for their “business.” Client opens bank accounts, receives wire transfers, moves the money along as instructed. Client thinks they’re earning legitimate income, client thinks they’re helping someone they trust.

Then the bank freezes the account. Then federal agents show up at their door. Then they learn the money came from victims of fraud – elderly people who lost their life savings, businesses that got tricked into sending payments to fake vendors, people who thought they were paying bail to get a loved one out of jail. And suddenly the client is a defendant in a federal money laundering case facing years in prison.

The “I didn’t know” defense rarely works, here’s why. You kept 20 percent of every transaction – legitimate businesses don’t pay that kind of commission for simple money transfers. You received payments from people you’d never met for services you didn’t provide. You were instructed to use specific money transfer methods designed to avoid detection. You opened multiple bank accounts or used other people’s accounts. These facts establish knowledge even without direct evidence you knew the money was stolen.

What to Do If You’re Under Investigation

Don’t talk to federal agents without a lawyer. This is the single most important thing you can do – and the thing most people get wrong. Agents will tell you they just want to ask a few questions, they’ll tell you cooperating now will help you later, they’ll tell you this is your chance to tell your side of the story. Everything you say will be used to prosecute you.

If agents contact you about money mule activity, you invoke your right to counsel. You say “I want to speak with my attorney before answering any questions.” You say nothing else. You don’t try to explain, you don’t try to minimize your involvement, you don’t think you can talk your way out of this. You can’t.

Cooperation can reduce your sentence – but only when it’s done strategically through an experienced federal defense attorney. Substantial assistance departures under USSG §5K1.1 can result in sentences below the guideline range, sometimes significantly below. But cooperation means providing valuable information about others involved in the scheme, it means potentially testifying against co-defendants, it means your attorney negotiating a cooperation agreement with prosecutors before you give any statements.

The acceptance of responsibility reduction under USSG §3E1.1 can reduce your offense level by 2 or 3 points – which translates to months or years less prison time. But you don’t get that reduction just by admitting guilt. You get it by accepting responsibility early, by not obstructing the investigation, by demonstrating genuine remorse through your actions throughout the case.

Many, many, defendants try to handle federal cases on their own or with attorneys who don’t regularly practice in federal court. Federal sentencing is completely different from state court. The guidelines are complex, the prosecutors are experienced, the judges expect your attorney to understand the nuances of federal practice. A defense attorney who handles these cases regularly knows how to challenge the government’s loss calculations, how to argue for downward departures, how to present mitigation evidence that actually moves judges.

At Spodek Law Group – we’ve handled federal cases that others said were unwinnable. We understand how prosecutors build money laundering cases, we understand the defenses that work and the defenses that waste everyone’s time. Our team includes former federal prosecutors who know exactly how the government thinks about these cases. We’re available 24/7 because we know federal investigations don’t follow business hours.

If you’re under investigation for money mule activity, if you’ve already been charged, if you’re trying to figure out whether you need a lawyer – you need a lawyer. The investigation isn’t going away. Prosecutors aren’t going to decide you’re not worth their time. Every day you wait is a day you’re not building your defense, not preserving evidence, not positioning yourself for the best possible outcome.

Federal money mule cases are serious. The prison time is real, the financial penalties are devastating, the collateral consequences follow you for years. But these cases can be defended – when you have an attorney who understands federal criminal law, understands how money laundering prosecutions work, understands how to negotiate with federal prosecutors from a position of knowledge and strength.