A network accused of turning large sums of money from drug sales into cryptocurrency for cartels in Mexico and Colombia has been hit with a serious strike. Nine people were charged with running an unauthorized money-transmitting company and laundering U.S. currency into digital assets after a superseding indictment was returned on Tuesday, according to a press statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida.
The indictment is the outcome of a comprehensive law enforcement operation that revealed how substantial amounts of money obtained from illegal drug sales in multiple American cities were taken and turned into cryptocurrency. Nilson Sneyder Vasquez Duarte, also known as “Sobrino,” and other defendants worked together to orchestrate the conversion of this money for cryptocurrencies. They eventually made their way to cartel bosses in Mexico and Colombia after being transferred to wallets under their control.
The aforementioned defendants are accused of laundering large sums of drug money and are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unauthorized money-transmitting company. Some defendants, including Hernan Julian Calvo Bueno and Mayccol Hejeile Morales, allegedly served as couriers in the operations, which involved the actual physical transit of cash between different cities.
Notably, there are serious money laundering charges against Duarte, Maria Eugenia Landeros Rosas, Raimundo Carlos Rodriguez Huter, and other others. Homeland Security Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation division, and the Broward Sheriff’s Office are the federal agencies looking into this matter. They are all part of the El Dorado Task Force, a program that aims to target high-level financial crimes.
The El Dorado Task Force is part of the larger Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) program, which aims to break up criminal networks that pose a threat to the United States. According to the news release, “This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation,” OCDETF employs a prosecutor-led approach that involves multi-agency partnerships based on intelligence.
It is crucial to emphasize that an indictment does not prove guilt; rather, it only indicates allegations. Until a court of law establishes the defendants’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, they are deemed innocent. The website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida has additional information about the case.
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