Florida men charged in $1 billion illegal gold scheme [View all]
Source: Associated Press
Associated Press
Sunday, July 9, 2017 10:59am
MIAMI — A man who considered himself the Pablo Escobar of gold smuggling and two other former workers at a Miami-area refinery imported more than $1 billion in illegally mined gold from South America in a vast money-laundering scheme from 2013 to 2016, U.S. prosecutors say.
In a criminal complaint, the U.S. said that the three ex-employees of NTR Metals Miami and accomplices from several South American countries coordinated the purchase of illegally mined gold originating from Peruvian mines controlled by drug traffickers.
"The international gold trade has become a common method for the laundering of illegal mining, narcotics and other criminal proceeds," said the complaint filed by prosecutor Francisco Maderal.
Prosecutors identified the ringleader as Juan Pablo Granda, a 35-year-old U.S. citizen born in Ecuador who formerly was director of operations for NTR Metals Miami. FBI agents detained him at his mother's home in Miami on March 15, after he was fired by NTR's Texas-based parent company.
Read more: http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/florida-men-charged-in-1-billion-illegal-gold-scheme/2329815
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