Billy Corben Instagram – Evergreen Headline: “Drug money laundering fuels Miami real estate buying spree…and nobody was charged with a crime” #BecauseMiami
Miami-based real estate investment firm Sefira Capital was accused by federal prosecutors in a January 2021 civil forfeiture complaint of accepting millions of dollars in drug trafficking proceeds to fund investments in Florida commercial real estate between 2016 and 2019.
“In the civil forfeiture complaint, prosecutors alleged that money invested by Sefira had been laundered through the Black Market Peso Exchange, a shadow financial system used by drug traffickers in Mexico and other countries to convert tainted U.S. dollars obtained from drug sales into clean currency in their native countries. In an undercover operation, agents for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency were directed by money laundering brokers from the black market exchange to deposit millions of dollars in various accounts related to different Sefira properties in 2018 and 2019.”
Three days after filing the complaint, prosecutors reached a settlement with Sefira. The company agreed to forfeit $22.5 million and pay $6.5 million in lieu of giving up several properties. Prosecutors didn’t bring any criminal charges against Sefira or its co-founders. Under the settlement, the company and its employees didn’t admit any “liability, fault, guilt or wrongdoing.” — via The Miami Herald | Posted on 11/Jun/2024 04:21:39
