SAN FRANCISCO—An ex-politician from California pleaded guilty to money laundering in San Francisco federal court on Thursday, December 5.
Terrance Patrick Goggin, 76, is a current California-licensed attorney and former California State Assemblyman. After an investigation, Goggin admitted that he was the founder and CEO of Metropolitan Coffee & Concessions.
Between 2007 and 2014, the company had a retail permit with BART to operate Peete’s Coffee in eight stations. Goggin received money from investors in 2013 to open two additional shops. Four investors gave $585,000 toward the Civic Center and $100,000 to the Balboa Park BART Stations.
Alicia Trost, a BART spokesperson told The San Francisco News, “They only opened 4 (coffee shops) at the Embarcadero, Montgomery, Downtown Berkeley and Pittsburg / Bay Point Stations. Metropolitan Coffee & Concessions continued to operate at BART until it went bankrupt and the remaining duration of the permit was purchased in bankruptcy court and assigned to another unrelated operator in 2015.”
According to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice, Goggins used the money from investors for non-approved projects in New York City. The statement also claims that Goggins wired thousands of dollars to a girlfriend located in Thailand. In addition, he used his power as CEO to direct employees at Metropolitan Coffee & Concessions to inappropriately transfer investor funds.
The attorney first appeared in court in November 2018, but was later released from custody on bail, in December 2018. He was charged with nine counts of money laundering and four counts of wire fraud back in September 2018.
Goggins will return to court on April 1, 2020 to face sentencing charges. He may face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.