For those readers who have asked me to detail the reasons why the United States Attorney froze funds at Wachovia Bank belonging to the Mexican money transmitter Casa de Cambio Puebla SA, the alleged scheme the MSB was involved in has finally appeared in a money laundering case filed last month in US District Court in Miami against Venezuelan national Pedro Jose Benavides Natera. The defendant, according to the arrest affidavit filed in the case by a Special Agent of the FBI, participated in a complex money laundering scheme to turn illicit profits of Venezuelan drug trafficking organisations into clean funds, which were then used to purchase high-performance turbo-prop aircraft for drug smuggling operations. The MSBs facilitated the money laundering, according to the allegations. What is important about this case is that it focuses on Venezuelan, not Colombian, drug trafficking organisations, which are of late being targeted by US law enforcement. A number of Venezuelan-owned aircraft have been seized in the US during the past year, and rumours are flying that several indictments of Venezuelan nationals have been issued, and remain sealed pending the arrest of these individuals on American soil. It would appear that US has decided to ignore Venezuelan-based drug trafficking organisations no longer. One wonders how many foreign vacationers to Disneyworld unexpectedly end up in the US Marshals holding cells in Orlando this year.

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