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October 31, 2006
HP-148
Treasury Acts Against Narco Leader’s Front Companies, Cohorts
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today designated seven individuals and ten entities associated with North Valle drug cartel leader Carlos Alberto Renteria Mantilla (Beto Renteria). Today's designation is the fifth designation targeting Beto Renteria's financial network.
"Beto Renteria is one of Colombia's most powerful and sophisticated narcotics traffickers, investing his illicit proceeds across businesses in Colombia and offshore locations," said Adam Szubin, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control. "Today we have again taken aim at Beto Renteria's organization, exposing his web of front companies and targeting their assets."
Today's action targets a financial network of ten front companies and seven individuals that act for or on behalf of Renteria. The ten Colombian businesses identified today are four sugar companies: Agropecuaria Lindaraja S.A., Canaduz S.A., Inversiones Brasilar S.A. and Tarritos S.A.; the soccer team Cortulua; the accounting firm Camacho Vallejo Asesores; the beach-front hotel Tres Casitas; and two medical clinics, Apoyos Diagnosticos S.A. and Clinica San Francisco S.A. All but one of the businesses is located in Colombia; the other, Kutry Management, is located in Panama. OFAC previously identified Renteria's business interests in the department store chain Casa Estrella and numerous Grupo Grajales companies.
The seven Colombian individuals designated today are front persons working on behalf of Beto Renteria in the named companies, including key front persons James Osorio Valencia and Ricardo Sandoval Salazar.
OFAC named Beto Renteria as a principal Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker (SDNT) in March 2005, and the U.S. State Department is offering up to $5 million for information leading to Beto Renteria's capture. In May 2004, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia identified Beto Renteria as one of the leaders of the North Valle drug cartel and charged the cartel with violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
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. Today's action freezes any assets found in the United States and prohibits all financial and commercial transactions by any U.S. person with the designees.
OFAC has designated a total of 1300 businesses and individuals in Aruba, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Spain, Vanuatu, Venezuela, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the United States pursuant E.O. 12978. The 504 SDNT businesses include agricultural, aviation, consulting, construction, distribution, financial, investment, manufacturing, mining, offshore, pharmaceutical, real estate and service firms. The SDNT list includes 21 kingpins from the Cali, North Valle and North Coast drug cartels in Colombia.
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