The former chief executive of a Miami armored-car company has pleaded guilty to helping smuggle $140 million in “dirty gold” that had been illegally mined in South America into the United States.
Prosecutors say the 45-year-old Rodriguez and his company helped turn Miami into a major hub for enterprise that smuggled billions in gold into the U.S. from illegal mines all over South America, partly as a way to launder money for drug traffickers. Multi-entry travel The scheme, which operated between 2015 and 2016, involved thousands of kilograms of gold being flown into the U.S. from Curacao. As Curacao has no gold mines or processing facilities of its own, gold coming from there is considered to be mostly smuggled in by boat from Venezuela.
To get around this, prosecutors say Rodriguez arranged for the gold brought in by couriers from Curacao to then be sent to the Cayman Islands, before being brought back to the U.S. — Juan Antonio Gonzalez, the U.S. attorney for the southern district of Florida Upon its return, Rodriguez was accused of arranging for customs documents to say the gold originated in the Cayman Islands.