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U.S. charges three in multibillion-dollar drug money laundering scheme

Published 2015-09-10, 01:27 p/m
U.S. charges three in multibillion-dollar drug money laundering scheme

By Joseph Ax
NEW YORK, Sept 10 (Reuters) - U.S. authorities have charged
three men with helping to run a global money laundering network
that processed billions of dollars in drug trafficking profits
through bank accounts in China and Hong Kong.
The Guangzhou, China-based organization brought in drug
proceeds from the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Panama,
Guatemala and Canada, as well as parts of Africa and Europe,
according to an indictment unsealed on Thursday in federal court
in Brooklyn, New York.
One of the three men, Colombian national Henry Poveda,
appeared briefly in court on Thursday; the other two men,
Christian Duque-Aristizabal and John Jairo Hincapie-Ramirez, are
in custody in South America awaiting extradition proceedings.
All three face a single charge of conspiracy to launder
money.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Amir Toossi told U.S. District Judge
Carol Begley Amon that the indictment includes other defendants
who remain at large. They have not been publicly identified.
According to the indictment, the Guangzhou organization used
Chinese casinos, currency exchange houses, export companies and
factories to receive billions of dollars in drug proceeds in
cash or wire transfer.
The money traveled through a network of accounts in Hong
Kong and China and eventually was used to purchase products,
often counterfeit consumer goods, that were shipped to Colombia
and other countries, prosecutors said.
Poveda's court-appointed lawyer, Mia Eisner-Grynberg,
declined to comment on the case. She and Toossi told Amon they
have engaged in preliminary plea discussions.

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