12 December 2005
U.S. Dismantles International Drug/Money-Laundering Organization
Group operated in Colombia, Brazil, other nations in Americas
By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- U.S. law enforcement authorities have dismantled a large drug-trafficking and money-laundering organization that operated in the United States and five countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The DEA said in a December 8 statement that its "Operation Cali Exchange" resulted in 24 indictments, 18 arrests and the seizure of more than $7 million, 2,107 kilograms of cocaine and 235 kilograms of marijuana. Charges in the indictments include conspiracy to distribute cocaine, importation of a controlled substance, money laundering and criminal forfeiture.
The Cali exchange operation, said the DEA, marks the third round of success in the agency's "Money Trail Initiative," a financial crime strategy that attacks the financing of the illegal drug trade to dismantle major drug-trafficking organizations. To date, the initiative has resulted in the seizure of $43.6 million. (See related article.)
In its latest success, the DEA targeted a drug-distribution and money-laundering organization that ran networks in the United States, Colombia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Panama and the Bahamas. The drug organization used various methods, such as bulk cash deliveries, wire transfers and use of the Colombian Black Market Peso Exchange, to launder drug proceeds in Miami, New York and Chicago and return drug profits to the drug suppliers based in Colombia.
The DEA described the black market exchange as a system where drug traffickers sell U.S. drug proceeds to brokers for pesos. Brokers then sell the drug proceeds to Colombian importers who purchase goods in the United States and elsewhere. (See related article.)
The DEA said its investigation has revealed that 28 different bank accounts in the United States and abroad were used to launder drug proceeds and that more than $10.2 million was laundered through the U.S. banking system.
DEA Administrator Karen Tandy said: "Drug traffickers are using their profits to burrow into our neighborhoods and corrupt legitimate banking systems. In major drug-trafficking operations, money is the thread that unravels the drugs and devastation otherwise hidden by dealers. DEA knows where money leads, and we will be relentless in going after it."
During the course of the investigation, DEA agents and their international partners discovered that the organization coordinated and provided maritime transport of drugs and money through the Caribbean corridor. One defendant in the case, Eric Gardiner, led the Panama-based operation, and was arrested in the Dominican Republic. Gardiner was charged with funneling a large quantity of currency through the U.S. banking system into bank accounts in Panama. Other members of the organization arrested in the Dominican Republic include Rogelio Griffith, a Panamanian national, and Tyrone Russell of the Bahamas. All three defendants were sent to Miami to face U.S. prosecution.
U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta of the Southern District of Florida, whose office is prosecuting the case, said the U.S. indictments disrupt "every aspect of this drug-trafficking network, bringing to justice those responsible for producing the cocaine in South America, those who imported it and sold it in the United States, those who funded and profited from the drug trade, and those who delivered the money back to the drug dealers."
The Bahamas police force and the National Directorate for Drug Control in the Dominican Republic participated with the DEA in handling the case.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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