Drug Trafficking And Money Laundering: Two Jamaicans Convicted

Drug Trafficking And Money Laundering: Two Jamaicans Convicted. On Friday, January 17, a court in Massachusetts, United States, convicted two Jamaican men. They were involved in a high-stakes international drug trafficking and money laundering operation.

This sophisticated Drug Trafficking And Money Laundering operation funneled over $6 million in drug trafficking profits from Colombian cartels. They routed the money through banking systems across the United States. It also passed through the Caribbean and Europe.

St Devon Anthony Cover, 61, was convicted of one count of money laundering conspiracy. He was also convicted of seven counts of laundering monetary instruments. Dennis Raymond Rowe, 59, was convicted of one count of money laundering conspiracy. He had one count of money laundering and two counts of laundering monetary instruments.

The court convicted both individuals after a four-day jury trial. The court will hand down the sentence at a later date.

The charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering carry a hefty potential sentence, and the laundering of monetary instruments also carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Additionally, they may face up to three years of supervised release and fines of up to $500,000 or more.

United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy emphasized that Cover and Rowe were not just minor players. They were significant figures in a scheme. The scheme laundered millions of dollars in drug profits. It enabled the flow of deadly narcotics onto streets in the US.

It took investigators five years to finish their probe into the Drug Trafficking And Money Laundering Scheme.

During the five-year investigation, which led to the arrests of 20 individuals, law enforcement seized $1 million. They took this from corporate bank accounts and through other investigative activities.

Nearly 3,000 kilograms of cocaine, valued at over $90 million, were linked to a money laundering organization. The amount includes over 1,193 kilograms of cocaine confiscated at sea, 60 miles south of Jamaica, in July 2019. Additionally, authorities confiscated 1,555 kilograms of scrap metal from nine shipping containers. This occurred at the Port of Buenaventura, Colombia, in March 2019.

Prosecutors report that investigators discovered the organization laundered over $6 million in drug proceeds. They did this through shady banks in the U.S. They also used banks in the Caribbean and Europe, utilizing the Colombian Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE).

The defendants and their co-conspirators used the BMPE. They were able to hide drug trafficking activities. They also concealed the associated profits from law enforcement.

Also, they evaded currency exchange regulations in both the United States and Colombia through this illegal currency exchange method.

During the conspiracy, Cover laundered approximately US$268,000. Rowe laundered over US$600,000. He delivered bulk cash drug proceeds to undercover law enforcement.