The U.S. Justice Department released
the below information:
A Colombian national pleaded
guilty today in connection with his role in a bribery scheme that resulted in
the dismissal of a drug trafficking indictment filed against a Colombia-based
cocaine trafficker from the Cali Cartel, announced Acting Assistant Attorney
General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
According to admissions in
the plea agreement, Juan Carlos Velasco Cano, 49, acted as an intermediary
between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security
Investigations Special Agent Christopher V. Ciccione II, 52, of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania,
and Colombian national Jose Bayron Piedrahita Ceballos, 58, to use Ciccione’s
official position to cause a drug trafficking indictment against Piedrahita to
be dismissed and to obtain official authorization for Piedrahita to enter the
United States.
Velasco admitted that
Piedrahita gave Ciccione approximately $20,000 in cash, dinner, drinks and
prostitution during an extended hotel stay in Bogota, Colombia in exchange for
Ciccione using his official position to obtain the dismissal of the indictment
against Piedrahita. In furtherance of
the scheme, Velasco arranged for a meeting of the conspirators in Bogota,
Colombia; facilitated communications between Piedrahita and Ciccione; and
received confidential law enforcement information from Ciccione about himself
and others, including the names of a confidential source and cooperating
witnesses.
Velasco will be sentenced on
Jan. 17, 2018 before U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. of the Southern
District of Florida. Ciccione is pending
trial and Piedrahita is currently incarcerated in the Republic of
Colombia.
The U.S. Department of the
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Piedrahita as a
Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics
Kingpin Designation Act on May 3, 2016.
ICE’s Office of Professional
Responsibility, Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General
and the FBI investigated the case. The
Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs, the Office of the Judicial
Attaché in Colombia and the Drug Enforcement Administration provided valuable
assistance to the investigation. The
Colombian Attorney General’s Office also provided invaluable support. Trial Attorneys Luke Cass and Jennifer A.
Clarke of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the
case.
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