November 6, 2002

Don Johnson was a few years removed from the finale of his most recent TV hit, Nash Bridges, and more than a decade past the ’80s hit series Miami Vice, when a routine customs check on the Switzerland-Germany border turned into an ordeal he would later describe as “…one of the most difficult weeks of my life.”

On Miami Vice, Johnson played Detective James Crockett, who — along with Detective Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) — would battle drug dealers, gang members, and other nefarious characters. But, in November 2002, it was Johnson who found himself the subject of an investigation in a storyline that resembled one of the narratives he would routinely partake in during his run on the Golden Globe-winning TV series.

Johnson, along with two other men — his personal assistant and an “unnamed Swiss financial advisor” — were stopped by German customs officials as they made their way into the country by way of Switzerland. Everything seemed legit; the customs agents were even fans of Johnson. “I signed some autographs, we joked around,” he told Larry King in 2003.

The seeds of trouble for Johnson were sitting in the trunk of the car. When officials searched it, they discovered a briefcase with over $8 billion in receipts, certificates, and credit notes. It seemed a bit odd. Johnson explained that the paperwork was from investors he was in the process of collaborating with for his film production company. The customs agents made copies of everything in the briefcase, and sent Johnson on his way, presumably to the Daimler-Chrysler plant in Germany to see the new Maybach.

“At this stage, we’re only assessing the documents,” said Wolfgang Schmitz, a spokesman for customs. “After that, we’ll decide whether we’ll start with investigations.”

Johnson believed that everything had been cleared. He heard nothing from German authorities, and nothing from the U.S. Tax department for several months. It was quiet. And then, suddenly the whispers of a money-laundering racket became very loud.

March 2003

“There’s a reasonable suspicion that Mr. Johnson was working for others. If everything is legal, you don’t have to transport documents worth this amount in a car,” said Joerg Groener, a spokesman for the local Customs Investigation Department in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.