Craig Clayton, 73, of Cranston, Providence County, Rhode Island, United States owned an accounting and consulting business called Rochart Consulting. He allegedly founded dozens of shell companies and used them to open business bank accounts not only in Rhode Island but also in Massachusetts, USA.

Through those accounts, Clayton and his conspirators allegedly laundered the criminal proceeds for his clients in exchange for fees. Since 2019, he allegedly have opened about 80 bank accounts purportedly on behalf of 65 different companies.

An undercover law enforcement agent posed as a potential Rochart Consulting client and contacted Clayton. In recorded conversations between the two, the Cranston resident said several of his clients were “fugitives from justice.”

When banks and law enforcement started to investigate Rochart Consulting, Clayton told investigators and bank personnel that his shell companies were legitimate businesses, which was false. Aware that a federal grand jury was investigating him, he made several false statements to federal agents during an interview in an attempt to obstruct the ongoing investigation.

On February 23, 2023, Clayton was arrested. Five seizure warrants were also executed on a Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle purchased by him and Rochart Consulting bank accounts holding several hundred thousand dollars of alleged money laundering proceeds.

Clayton was charged in federal court in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of obstruction of justice. He appeared in federal court in Boston before U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge M. Page Kelley.