US blacklists Colombia’s Envigado soccer club over drug money laundering
US blacklists Colombia’s Envigado soccer club over drug money laundering
Nov 19, 2014 posted by Robin Llewellyn
Envigado FC of Colombia’s top soccer league has been placed under on the “Kingpin List” for supporting the Medellin-based “La Oficina de Envigado” crime syndicate.
Designation on the list freezes all United States-based assets of the club and prevents US citizens engaging in transactions with them.
Soccer club owner Juan Pablo Upegui Gallego was also named by the US Treasury as an important member of the crime syndicate who allegedly has placed the club’s finances at the service of the cartel for years.
Founded in 1989, the club has built a reputation for developing young stars including James Rodriguez and Juan Fernando Quintero, and won promotion to the top league during its first season of professional soccer in 1991.
But the club has been visited by controversy before. According to organized crime website InSight Crime, Oficina assassin Daniel Mejia killed former club owner Gustavo Upegui Lopez in 2006.
The crime syndicate, originally founded by slain drug lord Pablo Escobar, has emerged as the leading organization managing local militias and gangs in the area around Medellin following the death of its founder in 1993, cooperating with AUC (United Self Defense Forces of Colombia) paramilitaries.
More:
http://colombiareports.co/us-blacklists-colombias-envigado-soccer-club-drug-money-laundering/