Miami gold hauler cuts plea deal in huge South American-Caribbean money laundering case
Miami Herald
January 25, 2022
MIAMI — A trucking company owner charged with playing a supporting role in a gold-smuggling scheme spanning South America, the Caribbean and South Florida pleaded guilty this week to submitting false customs documents that concealed the true origins of the gold being imported through Miami International Airport.
Jesus Gabriel Rodriguez Jr., CEO of the Doral-based armored truck company Transvalue Inc., admitted as part of his plea agreement that he helped import thousands of kilos of gold valued at $140 million into the United States from Curacao, knowing that that the customs paperwork falsely represented its origins. The records falsely showed the gold was shipped from the Cayman Islands to make it look like it didn’t come from Curacao, which is known as an illicit trading hub for gold mined in South America, including nearby Venezuela. Disclosing that the gold was actually shipped through Curacao would have violated U.S. anti-money laundering laws.
. . .
U.S. Attorney Tony Gonzalez said that Rodriguez was one of the “key players” in the sprawling money laundering case, which was unveiled nearly five years ago with the arrests of three Miami-area brokers accused of illegally importing $3.6 billion worth of gold from Peru and other South American countries. Rodriguez may be the last defendant to be prosecuted in the case, which put a spotlight on Miami as a major gold-import capital and on mining’s devastation of the rain forest in South America. The case, because of its geographical breadth and financial complexity, involved a joint investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and IRS.
. . .
Rodriguez was accused of conspiring with gold sellers in the Caribbean, though the gold was “likely being illegally mined and smuggled out of Venezuela,” according to the complaint. Other possible sources included Peru and Colombia, which are rich in gold but rife with corruption in the precious-metal trade, according tMoreo U.S. authorities.
More:
https://nordot.app/858830721899757568?c=592622757532812385