MARCO DELGADO SCARED TO GO TO PRISION

FROM THE - JOURNALS of Monte Friesner – Criminal & Intelligence Analyst and Consulaire for WANTED SA ~ Contributed & Written by Kenneth Rijock

CARTEL MONEY LAUNDERER MARCO DELGADO IS GOING TO TRIAL

Attorney Delgado at his initial arrest  A US District Court Judge in El Paso has set El Paso attorney Marco Delgado's money laundering trial for October 21st. Readers following the story* will know that Delgado also has another Federal criminal case pending, involving his diversion of a large amount of funds from a Mexican public works project.

 

The money laundering case has generated more than its share of interest, after it was seen that his attorneys were questioning his mental state for reportedly declining to accept a plea in the case.

 

As a money launderer for a powerful Mexican cartel, he may have felt that he would probably be killed in prison, shortly after giving any of the testimony a plea bargain would entail, and for that reason, his refusal to give evidence against his employers is understandable. The Court, after diligent inquiry, found Delgado competent to stand trial.

 

As a cooperating individual hoping to receive a reduced sentence, he might also be compelled to make new cases against other clients, which would further reduce his chances of surviving his incarceration. perhaps attorney/money launderers should consider that before agreeing to launder criminal profits for violent and dangerous clients. 

 

 

______________________________________________________________

READ MORE ON: www.wantedsa.com

PANAMA BANKS WELCOME DRUG CARTEL BANK ACCOUNTS

FROM THE - JOURNALS of Monte Friesner – Criminal & Intelligence Analyst and Consulaire for WANTED SA   ~Contributed & Written by Kenneth Rijock ~

 
MAJOR MEXICAN NARCO-TRAFFICKING GROUPS EXPAND IN PANAMA

Compliance officers and client relationship managers at international banks in North America and the European Union kindly take note that Panamanian authorities are warning that some of the more prominent Mexican narcotics cartels are expanding their operations in the Republic of Panama.

This means that laundered drug profits, having been cleansed in Panamanian banks, and now owned by anonymous front companies, all formed by the same small group of busy Panamanian law firms, could be on their way to your jurisdiction, to be invested in an office building near you.
For your information, the cartels that are openly operating in Panama include:

(1) Los Zetas

(2) The Juárez Cartel

(3) The Gulf Cartel

(4) The Beltran Leyva Cartel

If Mexican "businessmen," seeking to invest their capital through your bank, and commence a new account relationship, are using Panama corporations as their vehicle, beware.

Panama's bearer shares cannot be definitively tied to your new clients, as beneficial owners, and you may be doing business with the Devil, or at least his Mexican counterparts, any individuals on the OFAC list.

If still wish to take their business, choose a reputable investigative firm in Panama, not staffed with local (and therefore corruptable) talent, and have it check them out, in both Panama & in Mexico.

If their "employment," or business they claim to own and operate is a fiction, exit them immediately.

If the Source of their wealth cannot be ascertained, close their accounts. finally, watch for front men, all with good references, who are markedly unfamiliar with legalese, and the jargon of finance.

____________________________________________________

 

READ MORE ON: www.wanted.com

PANAMA BANKS & CORPORATION CENTER OF MONEY LAUNDERING CRIME ORGANIZATION FROM COLOMBIA

FROM THE - JOURNALS of Monte Friesner – Criminal & Intelligence Analyst and Consulaire for WANTED SA ~ Contributed & Written by Kenneth Rijock.

PANAMA & ISRAEL JUDAIC COMMUNITIES PARTNERS IN DRUGS & MONEY LAUNDERING FROM COLOMBIA MAFIA 

The United States Treasury Department has placed 31 individuals and entities on its "Kingpin List" for participation in a Colombia-based money laundering network with connections to Israel and bank accounts in China, illustrating the highly globalized nature of Latin American financial crime.

Colombian national Isaac Perez Guberek Ravinovicz and his son Henry Guberek Grimberg, a dual Israeli and Colombian national, were placed on the US Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNT) list -- or "Kingpin List" -- for allegedly leading a Bogota-based network responsible for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars for numerous drug trafficking organizations.

Four of the men's family members -- one of whom lives in Israel -- and three Colombian business associates were also blacklisted for aiding the operation.

According to the US Treasury, the father and son used legitimate textile companies based out of Colombia, in addition to various shell companies in Panama and one in Israel, to engage in money laundering, with drug traffickers transferring funds from all over the world into the bank accounts of these front businesses.

In addition to Colombia, the network held bank accounts in China, Hong Kong, Israel, Spain, the United States, Mexico, Venezuela and the Cayman Islands.

The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida also announced the separate filing of charges against four Colombians in relation to the same case, including the two Gubereks, their secretary -- also on the Treasury list -- and a man who was linked in 2012 to an illegal money transport network operating in Panama.

InSight Crime Analysis

The sheer number of countries in which the network had bank accounts, in addition to the group's international business connections, highlights the extent to which financial crime has become a transnational business. Other recent Colombian cases have shown similar tendencies.

A 2011 law enforcement operation uncovered a 22-person international network that laundered money for the Medellin-based Oficina de Envigado, and in 2013, US authorities dismantled a Colombian money laundering network with US and Dominican members.

The use of Panama also remains a mainstay in this side of the business. The country has previously hosted another operation to make it on the SDNT list, which had links to Colombia and Hong Kong.

The global nature of the money laundering problem was recently recognized by the G8 countries, which agreed to require greater financial transparency from companies, in particular the sort of shell companies allegedly used by the Gubereks.

More to follow on this News Breaking Undercover operation exposed from Panama.

_________________________________________________

READ MORE ON : www.wantedsa.com

MEXICAN GOVERNOR PLEAD GUILTY FOR MONEY LAUNDERING

FROM THE - JOURNALS of Monte Friesner – Criminal & Intelligence Analyst and Consulaire for WANTED SA

~Contributed & Written by Kenneth Rijock ~

FORMER MEXICAN GOVERNOR RECEIVES ELEVEN YEARS IN US FOR MONEY LAUNDERING CONSPIRACY 

Due to a plea agreement, in which he was allowed to enter a guilty plea to a single count of Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering, Mario Ernesto Villanueva Madrid, the former governor of Mexico's Quintana Roo State, was sentenced, in US District Court in New York, to a term of imprisonment of  ten years and eleven months.

The defendant, who has already served a six year term in Mexico for his crimes, reportedly still owes twenty three years in prison to his native country.

Villanueva accepted $17m in bribes, to allow the Juarez Cartel to freely move large shipments of narcotics through Quintana Roo State, en route to the United States. He later used an investment broker at Lehman Brothers to launder his illicit wealth, hence the money laundering charges; she was previously convicted for her role.

Considering that Villanueva was instrumental in facilitating the entry, into the United States, of massive amounts of drugs, in my humble opinion, the sentence seems inadequate. What do you think ?

______________________________________

READ MORE ON : www.wantedsa.com

Venezuelan Government Supports Mexico's Sinaloa Drug Cartel

FROM THE - JOURNALS of Monte Friesner – Criminal & Intelligence Analyst and Consulaire for WANTED SA ~ Contributed & Written by Kenneth Rijock

VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT PROTECTS MEXICO'S MOST NOTORIOUS NARCOTRAFFICKER

His name is Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, but you probably know him better by his street name, Chapo [Shorty] Guzmán. He is the leader of Mexico's Sinaloa Drug Cartel, and the United States has considered   mounting an operation to capture or kill him, giving such an operation the same priority as the one that resulted in the death of Osama Bin Ladin.

DRUG TRAFFICKING

Articles this week, appearing in mainstream Venezuela media, have detailed the air smuggling acts of his organization, which has used Caracas' principal airport to transport massive amounts of drugs into Mexico, and thereafter into the US, and also eastbound into West Africa, and subsequently into Western Europe. What those newspapers do not wish to print, however, is the fact that Sr. Guzmán has repeatedly used Venezuela as his base of operations, and has actually resided there, with the support and protection of the Government of Venezuela, to evade capture by law enforcement agencies of the United States, and Mexico; he is a fugitive from justice, facing major criminal charges in both countries.

With all of the attention being given to the recent efforts, by the new Venezuelan administration of Nicolás Maduro, to purportedly improving diplomatic relations with the US, those proponents of this new relationship in the making might wish to ask for Sr. Guzmán's extradition as a precondition. He is not the only drug kingpin who maintains safe harbour in Venezuela, but he is the most dangerous.

________________________

READ MORE ON : www.wantedsa.com

Mexico Release American Citizen Accused For Drug

FROM THE - JOURNALS of Monte Friesner – Criminal & Intelligence Analyst and Consulaire for WANTED SA ~

ACTIONS OF PROSECUTORS IN MEXICO CASE DEMONSTRATE WHY COUNTRY RISK FOR MEXICO REMAINS HIGH

Perhaps you were following the case, this week, of an American woman from Arizona, who was charged with drug possession in Mexico, when she was on her way home from a family event. A dozen pounds of Marijuana were secreted under her seat on a northbound bus, about which she claimed no knowledge or involvement. It quickly became a high-profile case, as the defendant was a mother, with no criminal record, from a religious background.

A video of her boarding the bus later proved that she had not carried the contraband on the bus, and a judge in Mexico dismissed the charges, and freed her, based upon that evidence, upon the artful motion of her Mexican attorney. Justice was served, but that's not the issue.

The criminal defence attorney noted that the prosecutor was appealing the ruling, which I personally find appalling, but the most telling fact was that the lawyer stated that they always appeal adverse rulings, irrespective of the guilt or innocence of the individual. This means that, should your client be doing business in Mexico, his staff could be exposed to criminal charges, with no factual basis, and be railroaded to prison by prosecutors more concerned with statistics than the ends of justice. Your own people, should they be on temporary assignment in Mexico, are also similarly exposed; This is not good.

This is just one more reason why I keep Country Risk for Mexico at elevated levels.  

READ MORE ON : www.wantedsa.com