A 12-person jury found Seymour lawyer Ralph Crozier guilty of money laundering charges Wednesday at U.S. District Court in New Haven.
Crozier faces a possible 40-year prison sentence.
He was found guilty of two separate criminal charges — conspiracy to launder money and attempted money laundering.
The jury delivered its verdict after deliberating Wednesday and Thursday in the wake of a five-day trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Janet Hall.
Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 18. The judge ordered Crozier not to take on new clients and to wrap up his law practice before that date.
During the trial federal prosecutors alleged Crozier agreed to launder $30,000 for Bruce Yazdzik, a drug-dealing former client, in 2011, then took another $11,000 of what he knew to be drug money from Yazdzik’s mother during a DEA sting last year.
Crozier said he knew Yazdzik as a used car salesman, and figured the source of the money was Yazdzik’s legitimate business dealings.
Crozier was charged with conspiracy and attempted money laundering — the “washing” of illegally obtained money through ostensibly legitimate investments — last April, and has since been free on $200,000 bond while awaiting trial.
Click here to read a story with Crozier’s reaction to the verdicts, as well as the thoughts of the jury’s foreman.
Click here to read about the first day of the trial.
Click here to read about the second day of the trial.
Click here to read about the third day of the trial.
Click here to read about the fourth day of the trial.
Click here to read about the fifth day of the trial.
