May.20, 2010

US authorities produced "bulky" evidence against 16 people accused of alleged conspiracy to launder money from drug trafficking through Venezuela's foreign exchange swap market.

So far, 15 out of the 16 defendants have been arrested in South Florida, New York and Puerto Rico, Efe reported.

Most of the defendants are Venezuelans: Hermán Rafael Solórzano Caguaripano and his son Hermán Alejandro Solórzano Rincón, Georges Toutounji, Fortunato Farache, Douglas Enrique Sánchez Soto, Édgar Hadad Azraca and Alba Villalobos Vergel; Alfredo Ramón Soto Díaz, Miguel José Pérez Rivero, Luis Enrique Homez García, Henry Eduardo Bilbao Movilla, Rafael Polanco, Antoine Jean Melhem, and Johan Alberto Rincón Medina. Nercido Sosa Medina, from Dominican Republic and residing in New York, and Luis Rafael Díaz Plaza, from Puerto Rico, were also arrested.

Courts have set bails from USD 200,000 to USD 1 million.

According to federal prosecutors, Hermán Rafael Solórzano Caguaripano and his son Hermán Alejandro allegedly collected money in Puerto Rico and took it in suitcases to Florida.

In Miami, they deposited the money in several bank accounts or transferred it to people residing in South Florida, according to authorities.

Following instructions from cover agent Edwin López of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Solórzano Caguaripano negotiated with Alba Villalobos an exchange rate to sell her US dollars allegedly from drug trafficking.

Judge Joan Lenard, who ruled in the case of alleged conspiracy to hide the source and destination of USD 800,000 that Guido Antonini Wilson tried to smuggle in Argentina from Venezuela in 2007, is ruling on the case.