Atlanta Jewelry Store Ordered to Forfeit $1.87 Million

Chaplin’s jewelry store was most recently ordered to forfeit $1.87 million for the role that it played in a money-laundering scheme, a federal appeals court in Atlanta ruled in July of 2011. Ultimately the court had rejected Chaplin’s argument that the order to forfeit its entire inventory was excessive punishment. Chaplains along with a store employee were convicted in 2007 for selling a total amount of $22,000 of jewelry to an undercover agent who was posing as a drug dealer and then failed to report the cash transaction to the Internal Revenue Service. The jewelry store, Chaplin’s was also fined $100,000 and was ordered to return the $22,000.