Colombia jails alleged superspider in mafia web
by Adriaan Alsema July 3, 2021
A Bogota judge on Saturday jailed a self-proclaimed elite entrepreneur who allegedly has been trafficking drugs and laundering money since the Medellin Cartel.
Guillermo León Acevedo, a.k.a. “Memo Fantasma,” is arguably one of Colombia’s most elusive and well-connected underworld figures of the past decades.
According to crime website InSight Crime, the self-proclaimed real-estate tycoon started off with late drug lord Pablo Escobar in the 1980´s and was one of the main money men of paramilitary group Central Bolivar Bloc.
Following the 2005 demobilization of the BCB, Memo became all but a ghost until 2020 when InSight Crime tracked the ¨businessman* down in Madrid and revealed he was in business with the husband of Vice-President Marta Lucia Ramirez.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/colombia-jails-alleged-superspider-in-mafia-web/
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Google Translated:
Insight Crime Organization links Vice President Marta Lucía Rámirez and her husband Álvaro Rincón with mysterious drug trafficker Guillermo León Acevedo Giraldo alias 'Memo Fantasma'
by The File April 8, 2020 in corruption 11 minute read
An extensive investigation presented in 6 chapters published by the organization Insight Crime reveals the identity of the Colombian drug trafficker known by the alias of Memo Fantasma. The investigation relates that Guillermo León Acevedo Giraldo 'Memo Fantasma' began his criminal career at the hand of Pablo Escobar and was the power behind Carlos Mario Jiménez alias 'Macaco' in the Central Bolívar Bloc of the AUC until the latter was extradited to the United States and Memo Fantasma began to clear his name and nip the clues that could link him to drug trafficking in Colombia. He managed to disguise himself as a construction and cattle businessman and got into the heart of the Bogota elite.
In chapter 5 of that investigation entitled '' After a Phantom Memo: the traces of their money '' and signed by the co-founding partner of Insight Crime Jeremy McDermott, business is mentioned between the former defense minister Marta Lucia Ramírez (now Vice President of the Republic) and her husband Álvaro Rincón, owner of the company Hitos Urbanos Limitada (with identification number or NIT: 83012661-5) who ended up building an ambitious real estate project in the most exclusive area of Bogotá on a lot bought by the family of the alleged drug trafficker alias Memo Ghost. He also relates the investigation that was the vice president Marta Lucia Ramírez who recommended him to receive their children at the Nueva Granada school in Bogotá. We reproduce that chapter:
After Phantom Memo: the traces of your money
"Memo Fantasma" fled Medellín after making sure not to leave any loose ends on his life in the criminal world. Perhaps it even suspended its drug trafficking activities. He disappeared with millions of dollars. But that amount of money is difficult to hide.
We found out who the Ghost Memo was from a company registration document. It said that his real name was Guillermo León Acevedo Giraldo, and the company was Inversiones ACEM SA, dedicated to real estate development. The story became familiar to us: construction has long been one of the preferred tools for money laundering.
* Today's drug traffickers have realized that their best protection is not a private army, but rather total anonymity. We have called these drug lords "The Invisibles." This is the fifth article in a six-part series on one of those traffickers, aka "Ghost Memo." Read the full investigation here.
And Memo had made millions of dollars as a paramilitary drug trafficker in Colombia; he must have hidden that money somewhere. To find the Ghost, we decided to try to trace that money. We start with that identity document.
Over time there has been a well established path for drug traffickers and their money. At first, they just spent it, but that started to draw attention. So criminals began to launder it, moving the money through companies they created for that purpose, and then spending it again.
Generally, money laundering companies were put in the name of relatives or close friends, until there were no more trusted third parties. Later, the narcos became more sophisticated: they took their money abroad and created labyrinths of different companies, which they opened and closed in different financial and legal jurisdictions. These tactics made money nearly impossible to trace, except for people with specialized forensic accounting skills.
The longer a drug lord is in business, the more money he will make and the more sophisticated his laundering operations will be. But there are always traces, even of the best operations. In 2008, when he was just 37 years old, Memo had already been in the drug business for almost two decades and had seen hundreds of millions of dollars pass through his hands and those of his paramilitary partners. Surely, he had also left a trail somewhere.
Memo's investments in Colombia
The first company that we could find related to Memo was created on February 1, 1994. It was right after Pablo Escobar's death and after Memo stole the cocaine load that started his criminal career. The company was registered under his real name, the one we had found in that identity document, Guillermo León Acevedo Giraldo, and was registered with address in Envigado, headquarters of the Medellín Cartel. Memo was just 22 years old. The company remained in operation until 2004, when Memo moved tons of cocaine as part of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).
“Zara”, the despised lover, gave us the name of a man she insisted was Memo's main accountant, Gabriel Tapias Restrepo. We found his name linked to several companies in the department of Córdoba, where Memo was known to have properties, most of them related to livestock activities, and a rice production company. Several sources had said that Memo had huge cattle farms in the surroundings of the Buenavista municipality, in Córdoba.
“Once we went to his farm in Buenavista, we went through the Caucasia airport, because he had a plane,” said José Germán Sena Pico, alias “Nico”, who had worked with Memo in the Central Bolívar Block (BCB), a faction of the AUC.
We search among partners and workers linked to the ACEM company. Many were members of Memo's extended family. Among them were her daughter, mother, grandmother, mother-in-law and several cousins. When searching for these names in the company's databases in different Chambers of Commerce, we found 12 more companies in Colombia linked to these or other relatives, with assets reaching tens of millions of dollars. Apparently we had found a network of relatives in different businesses who might be acting as front men.
Also in Medellín we found the name of Guillermo Acevedo in a company called Palome SAS, registered together with a woman named Leydi Daihana Villa.
Alias “Ernesto,” a Medellín drug trafficker, a rival of Memo and whom he apparently hated, stated that many of Memo's properties and companies were in the names of ex-wives and girlfriends, who handled much of his money laundering activities. According to Zara, Memo had at least five children with different partners, two of them with his current wife. However, if we had found more than a dozen companies in the names of relatives, worth millions of dollars, how many more would exist in the names of his former lovers and their children?
It was clear that Memo was not only using land and livestock to launder his money, but was also trying to reinvent himself as a rancher and landowner. Thus, he was moving away from his first years of life in poverty in Medellín. This also coincided with the choice of his last partner, his current wife, Catalina Mejía, from an upper-class family in Medellín.
There were some companies that were not used primarily for money laundering, but were rather directly related to their drug trafficking business. Several sources had referred to Memo's aviation company at Medellín's local airport, the Olaya Herrera. In fact, it was explicitly mentioned during the testimony given by Nico during his testimony before the Chamber of Justice and Peace in Colombia, which was formed to oversee the legal aspects of the demobilization of the paramilitary
"The things [Memo Ghost] handled were large. He had a hangar at the Olaya Herrera airport, ”Nico testified.
A couple of sources mention the names "Aviel" and "SASA." We found that a company, Aviones Ejecutivos Ltda Aviel, had been created in 1999, just when Memo's criminal career was beginning to take off, and that there was also another company, Sociedad Aeronáutica de Santander SA The name Guillermo Acevedo did not appear in any of the documents one of those companies, but that of Memo's criminal ally, Francisco “Pacho” Cifuentes, yes.
Pacho was listed as one of Aviel's partners. This further confirms that there was an association between the two men and the existence of a drug trafficking route that started from the Medellín airport, bound for Mexico.
Memo's main company, ACEM, had been established in 2007 in Bogotá. This seemed like the best place to start tracking the Phantom's whereabouts. “Olga”, a member of the social circle of Memo's in-laws with whom we had spoken earlier, gave us another reason to start looking for El Fantasma in the Colombian capital.
“They moved to Bogotá. We realized that when someone in the family boasted that Memo and Catalina had enrolled their two daughters in the Nueva Granada school, thanks to a recommendation from Marta Lucía Ramírez ”.
The latter was an impressive revelation. I asked if Marta Lucía Ramírez was the former Defense Minister, the former Conservative Party presidential candidate, and the current Vice President of Colombia.
"Yes, that one," Olga said as she nodded firmly.
Here I must make a clarification. I have known Marta Lucía Ramírez for many years, and on a couple of occasions I have been invited by her to the El Nogal Club, a meeting place for Bogotá's elite. I have always admired the role she plays at the highest levels of politics in a country where there has not yet been a female president.
The Nueva Granada school is one of the most exclusive educational institutions in Bogotá. There is always a long line of parents waiting for their children to be accepted. Memo Fantasma, a drug trafficker from Medellín, had managed to get his daughters to enter school and for this he sought some influence, a “lever”, as it is called in Colombia. Marta Lucía Ramírez has that kind of influence. Although the school does not provide information about the students or their parents, it does publish the list of donors.
One step closer to the Ghost
Once in Bogotá, it was logical to start at the office where ACEM is located, according to the registry, at Carrera 14 N ° 85-68. Upon arriving at the building and mentioning Memo's real name, Guillermo Acevedo, I was surprised that security let me pass the entrance. As I rode the elevator to the fourth floor, I was thinking in a panic what my encounter with the Ghost would be like.
The door was opened for me by a secretary who introduced herself as Jimena. I pretended that I had an appointment with Mr. Acevedo and was surprised when the secretary told me that he was not in the office, which was very small, with a couple of workstations in the back, a large desk and an area of meetings.
"Where is Mr. Acevedo?"
-I dont know.
"When do you think you'll be back at the office?"
-I dont know.
"Can you give me a number where I can contact you?"
"No, but if he gives me his name and a number, I can give him his details."
-I do not believe it.
Jimena was unmoved when I refused to give her my details and she nodded. It was obvious that this was not a normal office, it was not a normal business, with a normal way of interacting. It seemed that Guillermo Acevedo was almost invisible even to his own secretary, or that she had orders never to give her contact information or the place where she was. Apparently it was our Ghost.
Another company, Inversiones El Ciprés SA, was also registered at this address. Three of the people related to ACEM appeared in Inversiones El Ciprés, although in different roles. Guillermo Acevedo had no direct link with this company, but it was another real estate development company, with ambitious projects in the Colombian capital. We found the footprints of Memo, but no direct links, with two massive development projects in Bogotá, both in the best areas of the city: one near Parque de la 93, the most exclusive restaurant area in the capital, and another in Calle 100 with the main artery, Avenida Séptima. Both projects with the capacity to launder tens of millions of dollars.
Tracing the names of Memo's extended family, we came to a series of properties in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Bogotá. Using the names of his mother and grandmother, Margoth de Jesús Giraldo Ramírez and María Enriqueta Ramírez, Memo had acquired a series of lots in a block, that of Calle 85 and Carrera 14. Memo had legal power granted by both women, which it allowed him to act freely on their behalf. Today, an ambitious project known as Torre 85 is under development on this block, with some of the most luxurious offices in the city. A project of this size would have cost tens of millions of dollars to build and produced another tens of millions of profits.
More:
https://elexpediente.co/organizacion-insight-crime-vincula-a-marta-lucia-ramirez-y-a-su-esposo-alvaro-rincon-con-misterioso-narcotraficante-guillermo-leon-acevedo-giraldo-alias-memo-fantasma/