Pubdate: Thu, 15 Feb 2001
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2001 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  PO Box 120191, San Diego, CA, 92112-0191
Fax: (619) 293-1440
Website: http://www.uniontrib.com/
Forum: http://www.uniontrib.com/cgi-bin/WebX
Author: Marisa Taylor, Staff Writer

4 IN CUSTODY IN SUSPECTED BID TO WASH DRUG MONEY

Federal Indictment Says They Acted As Middlemen

Millions of dollars in alleged money-laundering deals that began with a 
1996 meeting at a Coronado condominium ended this week with the arrests of 
three Mexicans and a Canadian.

The suspects are accused of working for five years as middlemen for drug 
traffickers who were trying to move their money into legitimate accounts.

During the investigation, U.S. agents seized about $1.25 million in Miami 
that the group is accused of trying to launder in 1997 and 1998. A $50 
million deal that the agents were investigating fell through at the last 
moment.

"Drug traffickers often end up with a bunch of bulky $20 bills that they 
can't get through the system themselves," said Assistant U.S. Attorney John 
Kirby, the prosecutor in the case. "Every major city has drug dollars 
stacking up."

Three men from Mexico City were arrested Thursday after they flew into San 
Diego for their last meeting with undercover Drug Enforcement 
Administration agents who posed as money launderers.

Carlos Flores Moran, 62, who runs a consulting business; Francisco 
Florentino Govea Gil, 51, the head of a security company; and Victor 
Buendia Cabrera, 38, a lawyer, were arraigned in San Diego federal court 
yesterday.

Terrence William Smith, a Canadian car wholesaler who also is accused in 
the indictment, was turned over to DEA agents in Panama earlier this week. 
Smith, 45, is being held in Miami until he is transferred to San Diego to 
be arraigned.

If convicted, the four men each face up to 20 years in prison and more than 
$500,000 in fines.

"It is important for the public to know that money laundering is not only a 
crime, it also helps narcotics traffickers become a bigger threat to our 
society," said Edward Logan, the special agent in charge of the U.S. 
Customs Service's office in San Diego, which helped in the investigation.

Federal authorities said the business deals culminated with a series of 
meetings over two weeks in Houston in 1998, when the group asked the 
undercover agents to launder $50 million for Colombian drug traffickers.

It's unclear why the deal didn't happen, the prosecutor said.

"Drug transactions often fall through," Kirby said. "Drug traffickers, by 
nature, are not very dependable people."

Mateo Riviello Quintana, 66, and Hector Vela Hernandez, 46, both of Mexico, 
were also named in the indictment and are still at large.

Riviello, a Mexico City businessman, was the first to meet with undercover 
agents, who claimed they could funnel the drug money through bank and 
corporate accounts in the United States, Kirby said.

Riviello "represented himself as a person with connections to drug 
traffickers who needed money to be laundered in the United States," the 
prosecutor said.
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