Entire Florida police department busted for laundering millions for international drug cartels --- not to worry ... their are lawyers like Keith to defend them.
On Saturday, January 2, 2016 at 2:14:59 PM UTC-6, Travis wrote: > > > > > > > > > > http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/entire-florida-police-department-busted-for-laundering-millions-for-international-drug-cartels/ > Entire Florida police department busted for laundering millions for > international drug cartels > > The village of Bal Harbour, population 2,513, may have a tiny footprint on > the northern tip of Miami Beach, but its police department had grand > aspirations of going after international drug traffickers, and making a few > million dollars while they were at it. > > The Bal Harbour PD and the Glades County Sheriff’s Office *set up a giant > money laundering scheme* > <http://pubsys.miamiherald.com/static/media/projects/2015/license-to-launder/index.html> > > with the purported goal of busting drug cartels and stemming the surge of > drug dealing going on in the area. But it all fell apart when federal > investigators and the Miami-Herald found strange things going on. > > The two-year operation, which took in more than $55 million from criminal > groups, *resulted in zero arrests* but netted $2.4 million for the police > posing as money launderers. Members of the 12-person task force traveled > far and wide to carry out their deals, from Los Angeles to New York to > Puerto Rico. > > Along the way, the small-town cops got a taste of luxury as they used the > money for first-class flights, luxury hotels, Mac computers and submachine > guns. Meanwhile, the Bal Harbour PD and Glades County Sheriffs were buying > all sorts of fancy new equipment. > > Besides these “official” uses of the money, confidential records obtained > by the Miami-Herald show that officers withdrew hundreds of thousands of > dollars with no record of where the money went. > > *“They were like bank robbers with badges,” said Dennis Fitzgerald, an > attorney and former Drug Enforcement Administration agent who taught > undercover tactics for the U.S. State Department. “It had no law > enforcement objective. The objective was to make money.”* > > The operation, which was not fully reported to federal authorities, > funneled millions of dollars to overseas criminals and interfered with > investigations being carried out on known money launderers. > > The *latest revelations* > <http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article51698275.html> > > show that at least 20 people in Venezuela were sent drug money from the > Florida cops, including William Amaro Sanchez, the foreign minister under > Hugo Chavez and now special assistant to President Nicolas Maduro. > > They wired a total of $211,000 to Sanchez, even while the U.S. government > was investigating Venezuelan government leaders involved in the drug trade. > Instead of reporting their knowledge of Sanchez to federal agencies, the > cops went on laundering money, taking their cut, and all the while aiding > Sanchez in his machinations, which likely included political corruption. > > Four other Venezuelan criminals and smugglers were major recipients of the > millions being wired from the Bal Harbour PD and Glades County Sheriff’s > Office, including a figure tied to one of the largest drug cartels in the > hemisphere. > > These actions violated strict federal bans on sending illegal money > overseas, and the Florida cops never investigated the backgrounds of the > people receiving their laundered drug money. > > *“I can’t think of a more podunk town than Bal Harbour — not in a bad way. > But in the sense that these cops would have otherwise been stopping traffic > or shooting radar,” said Ruben Oliva, who has represented alleged > narco-traffickers since the 1980s. “In reality they were being launderers. > The minute they started doing busts, it would have been over.* > > *“This is like a movie. You’ve got these guys and they’re flying all over. > They’re saying, ‘Hey, I’m in the big leagues.’ I’ve seen every kind of law > enforcement money-laundering investigations. I’ve never seen anything like > this. It’s really one for the ages.”* > > After the Department of Justice busted the Bal Harbour PD for misspending > seized money to pay police salaries, the Miami-Herald began deeper > investigations and found a much bigger pool of money that was never noticed > by the feds. Soon after that, the ambitious sting operation—which was > really just a money-making scheme—began to fall apart. > > *“The Miami Herald gained unprecedented access to the confidential records > of the undercover investigation, reviewing thousands of records including > cash pickup reports, emails, DEA reports, bank statements and wire > transfers for millions of dollars. The inquiry found:* > > *▪ Police routinely withdrew cash — thousands at a time — totaling $1.3 > million from undercover bank accounts, but to this day there are no records > to show where the money was spent. “In all my years of law enforcement, > I’ve never seen anything like it,” Chief Overton said.* > > *▪ Bal Harbour officials say they cannot find receipts for hundreds of > thousands in expenses, including five-star hotel bookings, dinners that ran > up to $1,000 and scores of purchases like laptops, iPads, electronic money > counters, flower deliveries, and even iTunes downloads.* > > *▪ While posing as launderers, police delivered nearly $20 million to > storefront businesses in Miami-Dade to launder the money for drug groups — > gathering critical evidence against the business owners — yet took no > action against them. Years later, the businesses are still open, some still > suspected by federal agents of laundering for the cartels.”* > > Cash deposits to SunTrust Bank *totaling $28 million* do not appear > anywhere in police records. It’s no coincidence that the operation was > launched “at a time law enforcement agencies across Florida were looking to > boost their budgets during one of the state’s toughest economic periods.” > > *“We had to find a revenue stream,” said Duane Pottorff, chief of law > enforcement for Glades. “It allowed us to have resources we wouldn’t > normally have.”* > > Federal authorities and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have > launched probes into the Bal Harbour police, which will surely confirm the > rampant abuses of power. However, the fact that these types of shady > operations, carried out with the help of agencies such as Immigration and > Customs Enforcement, can occur at all is even more troubling. > > Government creates a black market of drugs and blood money through > prohibition, then under the War on Drugs it grants itself the power to > break the law and get involved in money laundering operations. While the > professed goal is to “sting” the bad guys, government rakes in millions > upon millions of dollars to further bolster its prohibition and war on > drugs. > > The War on Drugs is the real scheme that should be investigated. > > *This story first appeared at The Free Thought Project* > <http://thefreethoughtproject.com/small-town-cops-set-giant-international-money-laundering-scheme-rake-millions-illegally/> > . > > > > > > > __._,_.___ > ------------------------------ > Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected] <javascript:>> > ------------------------------ > > > Visit Your Group > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmaGV0YmxpBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0NTE3NTgyMDM-> > > > > [image: Yahoo! 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