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Link to tweet
Nate Sibley
@NateSibley
The Miami condo that collapsed in June, killing 98 people, was apparently built to launder cartel funds in the 1980s.
Developers accordingly cut cornerscritical defects that accelerated the buildings demise.
Money laundering is not a victimless crime.
Left to rot: Collapsed condo born of botched construction and evidence of money laundering
Shell companies, cash deals, fast sales, strange buyers. USA TODAY found early condo sales exhibit tell-tale signs of a money laundering scheme.
usatoday.com
4:48 PM · Oct 15, 2021
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2021/10/14/money-laundering-evident-collapsed-surfside-condo-building/5798385001/
No paywall
https://archive.is/jCi3i
WHEN CHAMPLAIN Towers South ascended from the beachfront 40 years ago in the quaint Miami suburb of Surfside, the new condominium gleamed with promise.
It was the first swanky high-rise condo in the tiny town, and it solidified the neighborhood as a gathering place for the rich and famous such as Frank Sinatra, who hung out down the road. For its residents from millionaire cocaine smugglers to family vacationers it was all about landing their little slice of paradise.
But even before developers sold off the 136 condominiums to their first owners, the construction had been botched and the building had been set on a course to rot from the foundation up, a USA TODAY investigation shows.
USA TODAY set out to compile a complete accounting of the forces at work on the building that collapsed June 24, killing 98 people. Reporters pored over thousands of pages of documents, including deeds, inspection records and homeowner association minutes. They interviewed dozens of people, including money laundering and engineering experts and residents who called the building home from its birth in 1981 to its deadly end in 2021.
*snip*
dalton99a
(81,468 posts)Hugh_Lebowski
(33,643 posts)hunter
(38,311 posts)... for those with connections to our own government.
Just another way to fund the dirty stuff "off the books."
JanMichael
(24,885 posts)Move there in the late '80s and ran into a bunch of people I went to school with who's parents were actually in prison for cocaine and marijuana importation and got caught. Those were the low-level people the big money built condos. Lots of them. That place is full of f****** criminals.
bullwinkle428
(20,629 posts)the same time, are sleeping well tonight.
tulipsandroses
(5,124 posts)And boosted Miamis economy. There was big money being made. Its mentioned in Cocaine Cowboys . I havent seen the new Netflix Cocaine Cowboys series. I watched the original documentary years ago. This very building is mentioned in the Netflix series.
Real estate agents have talked about people buying homes for hundreds of thousands of dollars or even million dollar homes in cash in the 80s
bluecollar2
(3,622 posts)Today its Batista Cubans and Venezuelan Petro-dollars...
Nothing's changed.
LittleGirl
(8,287 posts)DENVERPOPS
(8,817 posts)And I thought the best way to launder corrupt revenue was to use it to build golf courses and resorts.......
Celerity
(43,335 posts)Nevilledog
(51,093 posts)I cleared it with the admin first.
MerryBlooms
(11,769 posts)calimary
(81,230 posts)Especially when it was preventable!
Greed and short-term profits. That's all that seems to be important anymore.