It’s been an age-old problem for Colombian drug traffickers: Moving mountains of cash fromU.S.cocaine profits back to their country.
The cartels’ latest solution: automated teller machines.
But they aren’t withdrawing money from ATMs; they’re depositing tons of it, in stacks of $20, $50 and $100 bills, all acrossthe United States.
Over the past few years,U.S.authorities say, narco-traffickers have recruited a number of Colombians to fly toMiamiand set up phony businesses with corporate bank accounts. With a bit of wit, they named one local company “PJ Cleaning.”
The Colombian recruits then traveled to variousU.S.cities to pick up duffel bags of bulk cash from cocaine sales, with each depositing hundreds of thousands of dollars at ATMs into the bank accounts of the fake companies. Those businesses, in turn, wired millions through financial networks inthe United Statesand abroad to the Colombian cartels, authorities say.
Federal investigators and prosecutors say they’ve been on to them. This week, at least eight Colombians were charged with money laundering conspiracies, including some who made their first appearances inMiamifederal court. Agents with the FBI and Homeland Securities Investigations have had their eyes on them, not only because they’ve been moving huge sums of cash through ATMs but because bank security cameras have captured their images while they’ve make the brazen deposits.
Richard Gregorie, a retiredMiamifederal prosecutor who took down notorious Colombian kingpins and associates, said that during the era of the cocaine cowboys the Colombian traffickers relied mostly on the “Black Market Peso Exchange” to convert cocaine dollars into pesos, creating paper trails inSouth Floridaby using local businesses as intermediaries to wire their profits back home.
“This is no different than that; they just found another way to move the money,” Gregorie said in an interview Thursday. “They think of every way possible to do it to avoid the law. They’re usually way ahead of law enforcement.”
Federal authorities, he said, “need to start picking these guys up and getting them to cooperate so they can work their way up the line.”
That’s exactly whatSouth Floridainvestigators and prosecutors are trying to do. The latest arrests stem from an initial federal case last year involving twoMiami-area companies —P&J Maintenance Group LLCandPJ Cleaning LLC— located at18000 NW 24th Ave.Those bogus businesses and others set up at the direction of Colombian narco-traffickers have been at the center of a variety of multimillion-dollar ATM laundering schemes.
The two businesses were operating as unlicensed remittance companies, according to charges brought by AssistantU.S.AttorneyTony Gonzalez. The Colombian behind the businesses:Daniel Gustavo Martinez Yepes, a cartel minion who pleaded guilty and was sentenced in April to one and a half years in prison.
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Explore all your optionsAccording to an FBI criminal affidavit, the two companies had no employees and did no business, but betweenOctober 2022andNovember 2023about $7.6 million was funneled through their bank accounts in theU.S.toColombia. Martinez was responsible for moving a chunk of it.
Over just two days inJuly 2023, Martinez himself was captured on a security camera depositing $265,090 atBank of America ATMsinto the corporate accounts of the twoMiamicompanies, the FBI affidavit says. OnJuly 6and 7, Martinez made 22 deposits ranging from $400 to $30,250 at two ATM locations, theBlack Rock TurnpikeinConnecticutand the Perimeter Center nearAtlanta.
He kept track of each deposit and the bill denominations in a dark, hard-cover spiral ledger with the numbers “2019″ on the front. Most of his deposits were “structured” in amounts of less than $10,000 to avoid bank reporting requirements, but Martinez made even larger deposits while flouting the law.
“The footage shows Martinez both driving up toBank of America ATMsand walking up to others and making deposits,” according to the affidavit. “Martinez is seen pulling out large bundles [of] cash from a duffel bag. He is then seen utilizing the mobile phone wallet feature on a cell phone before inserting cash into the ATM.”
FBI agents caught up with Martinez last November atFort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airportupon his return flight fromMedellin, Colombia. He had his ledger on him.
According to the affidavit, Martinez admitted that he collaborated with a handler inColombiaon making large bulk-cash pickups in multiples cities across the country. The Colombian collaborator provided photos of the people delivering the bags of money and of Martinez to both sides so they could recognize each other. Then, the affidavit says, Martinez deposited the cash at ATMs into the bank accounts of the twoMiamicompanies.
Martinez told the FBI agents during the airport interview that he reviewed his ledger and said he was involved in pickups and deposits totaling about $350,000 inConnecticut,GeorgiaandIllinois. He also said he was paid $3,000 for the pick-ups, plus $2,000 for traveling expenses. However, he was reluctant to talk about his handler inColombia, identified as “co-conspirator 1″ in the affidavit.
At least eight other suspects have been implicated in similar alleged money-laundering schemes as Martinez, with most in federal custody inMiami.
According to another FBI affidavit,Geniver Andres Hernandez Ariasflew fromBogotatoNew York CityinJuly 2023and returned viaMiamitoColombiathe following month. During her visit inthe United States, Hernandez was caught on security cameras making at least $350,000 in cash deposits atBank of America ATMsinNew Hampshire,VirginiaandMassachusettsinto the corporate accounts of the twoMiamibusinesses, P & J Maintenance and PJ Cleaning.
“The footage shows Hernandez standing [at] and driving up to ATMs in multiple vehicles,” the affidavit says. “On one occasion, Hernandez was observed using two different cellphones while standing at an ATM. On another occasion, in the front passenger seat of one of Hernandez’s vehicles, you can see a plastic bag with loose cash hanging out of the bag.”
Other suspects recently charged with laundering Colombian cocaine profits through ATMs inthe United States:Edison Zapata Sanchez, Diovany Gutierrez,Gabriel Antonio Martinez,Paola Andrea Sanchez MorenoandAndrew Shawn Fermin. Two other Colombian cartel associates are being charged along with Fermin.
