A downtown L.A. investor who recently purchased a prominent South Park development site was among those arrested last week when federal agents raided the Fashion District in connection with an alleged money-laundering scheme for international drug cartels.

Morad Ben Neman, 54, was arrested Sept. 10 after being named in one of three indictments unsealed by the Department of Justice. Chief executive of a fashion company called Pacific Eurotex Corp., Neman was arrested with three others connected to the company, including his brother Hersel Neman, 55, and brother-in-law Mehran Khalili, 45.

The indictment alleges that Neman and the others laundered roughly $370,000 in cash for an undercover agent who posed as a money courier. Some of the money even appeared to be “spattered with blood,” according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Read the full story in the September 15 weekly edition of the Business Journal.