Yesterday, 69-year-old Luiz DaSilva pleaded guilty to operating a money transfer business without the proper license. The confession was made before U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton today, with an eye toward April 4, 2024, for DaSilva's sentencing, federal officials announced.

Caught in the act, DaSilva was nabbed last December with allegations that his business, Mix Cell Phones, LLC, skirted around federal registration laws like they were nothing but pesky speed bumps from at least October 2018 through October 2020. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the charge against DaSilva could land him up to five years in the iron hotel, three years of playing by the parole officer's rules, and a hefty $250,000 fine. However, these are no more than possibilities; actual sentences vary widely, and it's up to a federal judge to lay down the law based on sentencing guidelines and, of course, the facts of the case, as detailed by District of Massachusetts.

The unvarnished truth is that operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business isn’t small potatoes in the eyes of the law. In fact, it's a federal offense that Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy, along with the DEA's New England point man, Brian D. Boyle, and Framingham's top cop, Lester Baker, felt compelled to spotlight in their announcement of DaSilva's guilty plea, as per District of Massachusetts.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John T. Mulcahy of the Criminal Division, who's been handed the reins of the prosecution, will be gearing up for a sentencing showdown next spring.