Panama high roller facing life in prison
(newsroompanama.com) The Colombian scam artist David Murcia Guzmán, who for a brief time led a high roller life in Panama, is facing up to 20 years in a U.S. prison, on top of a 30 year sentence he got in his home country.
He pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in a U.S. court on Tuesday (November 24) and still faces charges in Panama, where he had a garage full of high end sports cars like Lamborghini,Mazerati, and Ferrari, and a yacht valued at well over $1 million.
His playboy lifestyle came to an end in with his arrest in Panama in, 2008, and he seems set to spend most of the rest of his life in jail.
Murcia Guzman played an indirect role in Panama’s elections, when it was alleged that he had given $6 million dollars to support Balbina Hererra’s presidential campaign, and the mayoralty campaign of Bobby Velasquez who at the time was well ahead in the polls. His support plummeted and Bosco Vallarino was elected.
The creator of DMG was arrested in Panama in November 2008 and handed over to Colombian authorities who On Dec. 16 sentenced him to 30 years in prison for illegal collection of money and other crimes before passing him on to the U.S.
In Panama, the courts filed a criminal case against Murcia Guzmán for illegal money collection.
Panamanian official records indicate that DMG’s operations in the country amounted to upwards of $4.3 million and affected an estimated 715 people.
Murcia, pleaded guilty in New York, to trying to launder millions of dollars of drug money. He has been imprisoned in the U.S. since he was extradited from Columbia in January.
After his appearance, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, director of the Southern District of New York, federal court, referred to Murcia Guzmán as the "Bernie Madoff of Colombia" and said that "The United States will never be a haven of illegal funds."
According to US court papers, Murcia Guzmán DMG created in 2003 as a vehicle to create a pyramid marketing and illegal collection of money in 2008 that grew to 400 000 customers in Latin America.
The prosecution said that Murcia Guzmán, with the help of other partners, created hundreds of subsidiary companies of DMG in Colombia, Panama and the U.S, which they used to invest millions of dollars collected in Mexico from drug trafficking.
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Original Source: Newsroompanama.com
Date Retrieved: November 24, 2010.
