Heads Up Money Laundering Scheme.

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It's always something. Always a step ahead.



Arizona / West
Prepaid credit cards used to move funds to Mexico, and it's legal
By Chris McDaniel
The Yuma Sun
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.14.2009
advertisementSmugglers have found an easier way to export illegal funds to Mexico: prepaid credit cards.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said there are currently no federal laws regulating such cards, allowing money to be laundered with incredible ease and without violating the law.
"This trend has been around for a long time, and our anti-money-laundering program, as far as I'm concerned, is just full of holes," Goddard said. "One of the biggest holes is what we call stored-value cards. Most people think of them as gift cards, but these are gift cards on steroids. Users can put millions of dollars on them if they have a financial institution that is willing to honor them, and easily take them into Mexico."
Goddard said most of the cards are issued by offshore banks in countries such as the Dominican Republic, the Cayman Islands and Panama.
"I can say safely there are not many of these cards that are actually involving United States-regulated financial institutions," he said. "They are issued offshore, but loaded up in this country. These cards have a service where people can go to a 7-11 and load a certain amount of money on a card and then have it withdrawn in Mexico. There is nothing to stop them from taking that card into Mexico."
Goddard said there is almost no accountability with these cards, because nobody sees who is doing it.
Edited for Copyright Policy - KK

Prepaid credit cards used to move funds to Mexico, and it's legal | www.azstarnet.com ®

 

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Millions in assets linked to stolen Venezuelan oil funds laundered in South Florida frozen by the feds...

Feds freeze millions in assets linked to stolen Venezuelan oil funds laundered in South Florida
August 22, 2018 - Federal prosecutors have frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in South Florida luxury real estate and other assets linked to a network of Venezuelan business people and former government officials charged with laundering more than $1 billion that U.S. authorities say was stolen from the country’s vast oil income.

Among the targeted assets are at least 17 South Florida homes, condos and horse ranches ranging in total value from $22 million to $35 million, based on property assessments in public records and real estate market estimates. They include a condo in the Porsche Design Tower in Sunny Isles, a residence on Hibiscus Island overlooking Biscayne Bay, four homes in the exclusive Cocoplum neighborhood of Coral Gables, and two ranches in the wealthy equestrian community of Wellington in Palm Beach County. Also facing federal forfeiture: More than $45 million that has already been seized by U.S. authorities in the past year, along with additional deposits at City National Bank of New Jersey and other financial institutions in the Bahamas, England and Switzerland.

This week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a motion to freeze the assets of nine defendants recently charged with conspiring to commit money laundering by transferring funds from Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, to South Florida, the Caribbean, Europe and Central America for their personal enrichment. Some of the defendants are close to the nation’s president, Nicolás Maduro, who is also under investigation, the Miami Herald has learned. Their assets — including the Porsche Design Tower condo owned by former PDVSA legal counsel Carmelo Urdaneta Aqui — are typically listed in other people’s names or corporate companies to disguise the defendants’ ownership interests, prosecutors say. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams granted the prosecution’s motion, which prevents the defendants from selling their assets. The Feds can seize the properties only if they secure convictions through plea deals or at trial.

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The Porsche Design Tower in Sunny Isles Beach was mentioned in a recent federal indictment when prosecutors alleged a Venezuelan official bought a $5.3 million condo there as part of a money-laundering scheme. The developer was not implicated in wrongdoing.​

Only two of the nine defendants charged so far are in custody. Matthias Krull, a German national who resided in Panama and also worked as a private-wealth management banker in Switzerland, pleaded guilty on Wednesday in Miami federal court to conspiring to commit money laundering. Krull, 44, who was arrested last month at Miami International Airport and is being held at the Federal Detention Center, admitted in court that he was involved in at least $550 million worth of money-laundering activities. Krull, represented by lawyer Oscar S. Rodriguez, is cooperating with Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, according to his plea agreement. By pleading guilty, Krull faces up to 10 years in prison instead of potentially twice that amount of time under an indictment charging the other eight defendants. Krull’s sentencing hearing is set for Oct. 29 before U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga.


The only other defendant in custody is Miami-based investment broker Gustavo Adolfo Hernandez Frieri, 45, who was arrested last month in Italy and is facing extradition. Hernandez, 45, a Colombian-born naturalized U.S. citizen, is accused of using his Miami financial firm, Global Securities Advisors, and another firm, Global Strategic Investments, to launder money with false mutual-fund investments. A Homeland Security investigator says in a criminal affidavit that the two brokerage companies, which are listed as having offices at 701 Brickell Ave., are “affiliated” and were used by Hernandez for meetings with members of the money-laundering network. Representatives of Global Strategic Investments insist Hernandez has had no involvement in the firm, which is headed by Hernandez’s brother, Cesar. The remaining seven defendants, including two former PDVSA senior officials accused of pocketing bribes as part of the alleged massive money-laundering scheme, are in Venezuela or other foreign countries.

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