Money launderer Khanani’s deal wipes out 273 years of jail time

A leading international money launderer with ties to Australia has struck a deal with US prosecutors.

A leading international money launderer with ties to Australia and whose clients ranged from al-Qa’ida and Hezbollah to ­­Col­ombian and Mexican drug ­cartels has struck a deal with US prosecutors, having 14 charges reduced to one.

Pakistani national Altaf Khanani, arrested in Panama last year in a multinational sting, is now likely to receive a sentence as low as seven years — down from a maximum of 280 years — after pleading guilty to a single charge as part of a co-­operation deal.

This is despite The Australian revealing in January that the US State Department and Australian agencies had linked him to the world’s most powerful terror networks and organised crime organisations, including groups in Australia.

Khanani is also believed to have had a close relationship with Mumbai gangster Dawood Ibrahim, who is linked to terrorist groups and attacks.

Shortly before the plea deal was announced in a Florida court a fortnight ago, members of his family were targeted in fin­ancial sanctions imposed by the US government stopping its citizens from doing business with them.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and the Australian Federal Police worked with the US Drug Enforcement Administration to bring him down, with Khanani targeted in a sting operation to launder $US1.2 million in purported drug proceeds. The sting involved Khanani’s operatives collecting cash in US cities ­before laundering the money in Dubai and other areas and transferring it to Florida using banks such as Bank of America and Standard Chartered.

According to court documents about the plea deal ­obtained by The Australian, prosecutors will recommend Khanani’s sentence be reduced by several levels under the US sentencing guidelines issued to courts.

An analysis of those discounts points to a sentencing range of seven to nine years in prison. Khanani has also agreed to pay the maximum $US250,000 fine.