March 7, 2007
HP-300

Treasury Designates Two U.S. Companies Acting as Fronts for Colombia’s North Valle Drug Cartel

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today added two U.S. companies to its list of Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs) for their ties to Colombia's North Valle drug cartel. 
 
"This is the latest in a series of OFAC actions targeted at the financial underbelly of the North Valle cartel," said Adam Szubin, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control.  "We have designated the cartel's companies in Colombia, the Caribbean, and elsewhere, and today we have frozen the assets of two front companies here in the United States."
 
These U.S. companies are owned by individuals who act as front persons for North Valle drug cartel leaders Raul Alberto Grajales Lemos (Raul Grajales) and Carlos Alberto Renteria Mantilla (Beto Renteria).  This action is the seventh designation against the financial network of Raul Grajales and Beto Renteria, who have both been indicted on narcotics trafficking charges in the United States.

Today's action named two Florida partnerships, C.W. Salman Partners and Salman Coral Way Partners, as SDNTs.  These two partnerships, which were created to hold real estate and other assets in the United States, are owned by previously-named SDNT individuals, Abdala Saieh Jassir, Moises Abdal Saieh Muvdi, and Carlos Ernesto Saieh Jamis.  Each of these Colombian individuals has been a front person for Raul Grajales and Beto Renteria for over ten years.  Moises Abdal Saieh Muvdi and Carlos Ernesto Saieh Jamis are in the custody of Colombian authorities on money laundering charges.

This action is part of an ongoing interagency effort to implement Executive Order 12978, signed on October 21, 1995, which applies economic sanctions against Colombia's drug cartels.  This effort includes the Departments of the Treasury, Justice, State and Homeland Security.  This action freezes any assets the designees may have under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits all transactions between U.S. persons and the designated companies.

A total of 1,365 business and individuals in Aruba, Barbados, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Spain, Vanuatu, Venezuela, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the United States have been designated as SDNTs pursuant to E.O. 12978. The 529 SDNT businesses include agricultural, aviation, consulting, construction, distribution, financial, investment, manufacturing, mining, offshore, pharmaceutical, publishing, real estate, retail, service and telecommunication firms. The SDNT list includes 21 kingpins from the Cali, North Valle and North Coast drug cartels in Colombia.