Black Market Peso Exchange Thriving Despite Economy
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia, 24 defendants have entered guilty pleas in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on money laundering conspiracy charges. The charges against the defendants allege that the defendants attempted to launder millions of dollars through the "black market peso exchange." The black market peso exchange is comprise of Colombian narcotics traffickers who need to convert U.S. currency earned from the drug trade into Colombian pesos, since U.S. currency is generally not accepted in Colombia.
The defendants were apprehended through a sting operation by the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement called "Operation Rainmaker." ICE agents, posing as money launderers, made 33 pickups of drug proceeds in Atlanta, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Puerto Rico, as well as ICE's first ever pickup in Mexico. $9,000,000 in proceeds, as well as quantities of narcotics, were seized as the result of the operation. The Atlanta defendants were arrested following two pickups by agents at a store parking lot in Gwinnett County.
