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January 28, 2009
TG-05
Treasury Designates Two Colombian Companies
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today designated two Colombian companies, Aquilea S.A. and Megaplast S.A., as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs) pursuant to Executive Order 12978. These two companies are controlled by previously designated family members of drug kingpins Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, who once led the Cali drug cartel.
"Thanks to Colombian and U.S. efforts, the heads of the Cali cartel today sit in jail and their family members have agreed to forfeit over $2 billion in tainted assets to the relevant authorities," said OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin. "Today's designation exposes two additional companies that had been hidden by Rodriguez Orejuela family members and are now subject to sanctions."
Aquilea S.A., which is located in Cali, Colombia, owns pharmaceutical patents and trademarks. This company is controlled by Amparo Rodriguez Orejuela and her daughter, Angela Maria Gil Rodriguez, who were designated in 1995 and 2003, respectively. Amparo Rodriguez Orejuela is the sister of SDNT principals Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela.
Megaplast S.A., which is located in Palmira, Valle, Colombia, is a manufacturer of plastic bags. This company is controlled by Humberto Rodriguez Mondragon and Jaime Rodriguez Mondragon, who were both designated in 1995 and are the sons of SDNT principal Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela.
In 2006, Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and money laundering charges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. These guilty pleas resulted in 30-year prison sentences for each brother.
In connection with Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuelas' guilty pleas, 28 of their family members who were previously designated as SDNTs entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of the Treasury in September 2006. As part of this agreement, the 28 family members were obligated to identify all "forfeitable property" financed in whole or in part with narcotics proceeds and to identify all other assets of any nature whatsoever that are owned or controlled by any family member who is a party to the agreement. In exchange, the U.S. Government agreed to remove the family members from the list of SDNTs after certain conditions, including final forfeiture and/or divestiture of all forfeitable property under the agreement, were met.
Amparo Rodriguez Orejeula, Angela Maria Gil Rodriguez, Humberto Rodriguez Mondragon, and Jaime Rodriguez Mondragon are all parties to this agreement. Although these four individuals controlled Aquilea S.A. and Megaplast S.A. at the time of the agreement, they did not identify these entities under the agreement. OFAC has notified the four family members of this material omission and will evaluate their response.
This designation is part of the ongoing interagency effort by the Departments of the Treasury, Justice, State and Homeland Security to implement Executive Order 12978 of October 21, 1995, which applies financial sanctions against Colombia's drug cartels. Today's designation action freezes any assets the designated entities may have that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits all financial and commercial transactions by any U.S. person with those entities.
A detailed look at the program against Colombian drug organizations is provided in OFAC's March 2007 Impact Report on Economic Sanctions Against Colombian Drug Cartels.
http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/reports/narco_impact_report_05042007.pdf
Chart: Designation of Rodriguez Orejuela Companies – January 2009
REPORTS