To view or print the PDF content on this page, download the free Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®. July 9, 2009 Treasury Designates Medellin Drug Lord Tied to Oficina de Envigado Organized Crime Group The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today designated Medellin-based drug trafficker Francisco Antonio Florez Upegui (a.k.a. "Don Pacho") as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker pursuant to Executive Order 12978. Today's action also targets 18 individuals and six entities located in "Francisco Antonio Florez Upegui and his extensive network of drug trafficking associates, front companies, and business managers rely on their financial networks for survival," said OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin. "We will continue to go after these drug trafficking networks and expose their support systems, forcing them out of the international financial system." Today's designation targets key members of the Francisco Antonio Florez Upegui drug trafficking organization, including Chekri Mahmoud Harb, a significant money launderer; Carlos Enrique Gonzalez Hoyos, a key heroin distributor; brothers Robinson Duvan and Oscar Alonso Acosta Serna, significant money launderers; and Guatemalan national Jose Rodrigo Dougherty Monroy, a major cocaine distributor. Florez Upegui's financial associates in Six entities controlled by Florez Upegui and his associates have also been designated today, including Florez Hermanos Ltda., a hotel services company; Inversiones Florez Y Florez Y Cia S.C.A., an agricultural and livestock business; Canales Venecia Ltda., a butcher shop; Almacen Futuro No.1, a clothing store; and Variedades Harb Sport, a sports-clothing company – all located in Medellin, Colombia. Comercial Jinan S.A., a sports store in Florez Upegui and 14 of the individuals designated by OFAC today face drug trafficking and money laundering charges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida under a July 2008 U.S. federal indictment. In October 2008, Florez Upegui and several others were arrested by Colombian authorities as part of Operation Titan, a major Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation. Florez Upegui began his drug trafficking activities 30 years ago as a member of the Medellin Cartel. In recent years, the Francisco Antonio Florez Upegui organization trafficked narcotics not only to the Today's designation is part of the ongoing interagency effort by the Departments of the Treasury, Justice, State and Homeland Security to implement Executive Order 12978. OFAC worked in close coordination on this investigation with DEA offices in REPORTS |
||