UPDATE: A sentence has been handed down to one of two Austin brothers in a money laundering case. Mike Yassine was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison Friday morning. His brother Hadi will serve 60 months, five years.
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KVUE -- Austin brothers convicted of money laundering will soon be sentenced for their crimes.
The Yassine brothers are accused of a series of crimes involving numerous Austin nightclubs they operated. The FBI raided those nightclubs last March. In October Mike and Hadi Yassine went on trial alongside a third brother, Steve.
The jury returned with a mixed verdict, convicting Mike and Hadi on seven counts of money laundering charges, but handed down a "not guilty" verdict for Steve.
Prosecutors say the brothers used their clubs to funnel drug money. Their own cousin became a star witness in the trial. He was paid to secretly record conversations. Mike Yassine's attorney attempted to fight the testimony in trial.
"I do not trust my government. This was an abysmal process; the government creating crime that none existed,” said David Botsford. “There's no way they should get a family member to create crime by getting them, begging, pleading to them to do something and it's really quite unfortunate."
Mike and Hadi face up to 20 years in federal prison. Judge Sam Sparks is expected to make the ruling Friday.
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Photo by Ed Zavala KXAN
