Bank to Plead Guilty to Laundering Drug Money
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LEAD: A Panamanian bank has agreed to plead guilty to laundering drug money, in a case that discloses the complicated new electronic technology now used to transfer illegal profits from cocaine sales in the United States. A Panamanian bank has agreed to plead guilty to laundering drug money, in a case that discloses the complicated new electronic technology now used to transfer illegal profits from cocaine sales in the United States. The plea is to be entered on Monday in Federal court in Atlanta by lawyers for the Panamanian subsidiary of Banco de Occidente, court documents say. It will be the largest money-laundering conviction ever obtained by the Federal Government against any bank. It will also be the first time a foreign bank with no operations in the United States has been convicted on charges of disguising illegally earned cash. Details of the plea agreement are to be announced on Monday by the Justice Department. The bank’s cooperation with the Federal authorities provides a rich source of information about the role played by American banks in money laundering. Justice Department officials in Washington said the complex laundering operation began with drug dealers in New York, Miami, Houston and Los Angeles who took in hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from cocaine sales and then carted them off to bogus jewelry businesses that acted as fronts. Hundreds of Briefcases The cash, often in hundreds of briefcases and cartons, each containing from $100,000 to nearly $2 million, would then be sent by armored truck to other phony jewelry operations in Los Angeles, where they were counted in high-speed machines. More : query.nytimes.com |