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November 30, 2005
JS-3028
Treasury Names Front Companies, Sham
Operatives Helping To Bankroll Narco-
Trafficking in Colombia
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today added two individuals and three companies tied to the North Valle drug cartel to its list of Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs). The two individuals, both Colombian, act as front persons for North Valle leaders Raul Grajales Lemos and Carlos Alberto Renteria Mantilla (a.k.a. Beto Renteria). Both Raul Grajales Lemos and Beto Renteria have been indicted in the United States on charges relating to narcotics trafficking.
"The North Valle cartel has used these straw men and front companies in attempts to operate under a cloak of legitimacy," said Robert Werner, Director of OFAC. "Designating the North Valle's financial network severely restricts the cartel's efforts to launder drug proceeds."
The two individuals, Armando Jacobo Jaar Jacir and Maria Sair Pelissier Ospina, represent the interests of Raul Grajales Lemos and Beto Renteria in the operation of Casa Estrella, a department store chain located in Colombia that was previously named a SDNT. This activity is carried out in attempts to hide the North Valle's control of the chain. Armando Jacobo Jaar Jacir has been a business associate of Raul Grajales Lemos and Beto Renteria for over a decade and participates in multiple companies controlled by them, in addition to Casa Estrella. Maria Sair Pelissier Ospina has also been a business associate of Raul Grajales Lemos for over a decade and participates in multiple companies controlled by Raul Grajales Lemos and Beto Renteria, including Casa Estrella.
Also named as SDNTs today were two companies controlled by Armando Jacobo Jaar Jacir, Armando Jaar y Cia. S.C.S. in Colombia and Jacaria Florida, Inc. in the United States. In addition, Comercializadora Pelissier Ospina Ltda. in Colombia, a company controlled by Maria Sair Pelissier Ospina, was also named.
SDNTs are subject to the economic sanctions imposed against Colombian drug cartels in Executive Order 12978. Today's action freezes any assets the designees may have located under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits all financial and commercial transactions between the designees and any U.S. person.
The assets of a total of 1,235 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 467 SDNT businesses include agricultural, aviation, consulting, construction, distribution, financial, investment, manufacturing, mining, offshore, pharmaceutical, real estate and service firms. The SDNT list includes 19 kingpins from the Cali, North Valle and North Coast drug cartels in Colombia.
REPORTS