Two money launderers sentenced to 180 hours of community service — less time than a Liepāja museum guide spends explaining a single exhibit

Two men with entrepreneurial talent suited only for writing invoices for fictitious services attempted to transform money obtained through computer fraud into legitimate income. The result was about as successful as trying to sell a Riga apartment at Liepāja prices.

It all started with a brilliant plan — open a bank account and hope no one would notice money flowing in from unknown sources. On the first day, one of the participants frantically ran between ATMs trying to withdraw all the money, but ran into withdrawal limits. Then he went to a bank branch, where an employee refused to pay out the money with the same enthusiasm as a Liepāja museum visitor asking for the fastest route through the exhibition.

The second day's plan was even more wonderful — prepare an "explanation" and fictitious invoice that would convince the bank of the money's legitimate origin. Unfortunately, the document quality was about as credible as a story claiming there are no traffic jams in Riga. The bank employee refused for the second time, possibly already in fits of laughter.

Finally, the court decided that 180 hours of community service was an appropriate punishment for attempting to mislead a bank with documents whose authenticity was as questionable as the claim that you can see the entire Liepāja museum exhibition in half an hour. As one local lawyer said: "If you're going to commit fraud, at least do it with style — these guys couldn't even write a proper invoice."