To view or print the PDF content on this page, download the free Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®.
October 25, 2006
HP-151
Treasury Targets North Valle Cartel’s Next
Generation of Leaders
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today added two North Valle drug cartel leaders to its list of Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs): Jhonny Cano Correa and Orlando Sabogal Zuluaga. OFAC also designated six entities and 16 individuals that have been controlled by or worked on behalf of the two North Valle cartel leaders. The designated individuals include rising North Valle drug trafficker Carlos Arturo Patiño Restrepo (a.k.a. "Patemuro").
"Treasury continues its relentless pursuit of the finances of Colombian drug traffickers. With the naming of Jhonny Cano Correa and Orlando Sabogal Zuluaga as principal narcotics traffickers, we have struck yet another blow against the North Valle drug cartel." said Adam Szubin, Director of OFAC.
Jhonny Cano Correa and Orlando Sabogal Zuluaga were indicted on drug trafficking and money laundering charges in the District Court for the Eastern District of New York in July 2003. Until 2004, Jhonny Cano Correa and Orlando Sabogal Zuluaga served as key lieutenants in the Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante drug trafficking organization. Gomez Bustamante was a top leader of the North Valle drug cartel until his 2004 arrest while attempting to enter Cuba on a false passport. After Gomez Bustamante's arrest, Jhonny Cano Correa and Orlando Sabogal Zuluaga rose in the cartel to become leaders of their own drug trafficking organizations.
Jhonny Cano Correa is a violent drug trafficker, allegedly responsible for multiple murders. Colombian authorities arrested Jhonny Cano Correa in October 2005 and extradited him to the United States on September 22, 2006. Also designated is Jhonny Cano's principal holding company, Cano Agudelo S en C.
Orlando Sabogal Zuluaga remains a fugitive from justice, with the U.S. State Department offering up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest. Today's action freezes the assets of Orlando Sabogal, several key family members, and their principal holding company, Orlando Sabogal e Hijos & Cia S en C in Colombia.
OFAC has also designated Carlos Arturo Patiño Restrepo ("Patemuro"), a rising North Valle cartel trafficker, who has been tied to SDNT principal individuals Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante as well as Wilber Varela, one of Colombia's most wanted drug traffickers. Two Patiño Restrepo companies, located in Pereira, Colombia -- Comercializadora de Café del Occidente Codecafe Ltda. and Inversiones Macarnic Patino y Cia S.C.S. -- were also named today. Patiño Restrepo's designation makes clear that OFAC is targeting the next generation of Colombian drug traffickers.
Today's actions benefited greatly from the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York and the El Dorado Task Force, a DHS/ICE money laundering task force in New York. OFAC would particularly like to thank Assistant U.S. Attorney Bonnie Klapper for her invaluable support in this case.
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 Treasury, Justice, State, and Homeland Security. Today's action freezes any assets found in the United States or in possession or control of U.S. persons and prohibits all financial and commercial transactions between the designees and any U.S. person.
The assets of a total of 1,283 business 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 have been designated pursuant E.O. 12978. The 494 SDNT businesses include agricultural, aviation, consulting, construction, distribution, financial, investment, manufacturing, mining, offshore, pharmaceutical, real estate and service firms. The SDNT list now includes 21 principal narcotics traffickers from the Cali, North Valle and North Coast drug cartels in Colombia.
REPORTS