East Liberty shop owner sentenced for money laundering

A federal judge today sentenced a Monroeville man to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release for money laundering and bankruptcy fraud.

Yasin Awni Shuman, 31, of Monroeville pleaded guilty Jan. 21 to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and one count of concealing bank accounts during a bankruptcy proceeding.

U.S. District Judge Terrence McVerry also ordered Shuman to pay $149,345.91 in restitution to 15 victims of his bankruptcy fraud.

The Internal Revenue Service accused Shuman of performing unlicensed wire transfers between July 2002 and March 2007 at his businesses, East Liberty News & Variety and Super Dollar Store, both on Penn Avenue in East Liberty.

Shuman was one of four men arrested in the investigation. Two of the men have pleaded guilty, and the fourth is awaiting trial.