The Spanish head of a transatlantic cocaine-smuggling ring dubbed “Los Miami” was sentenced in US federal court on Monday to 150 years in prison on charges of laundering more than US$14 million through waterfront condos and exotic sports cars.
A jury convicted Alvaro Lopez Tardon, 39, of more than a dozen money laundering charges in June.
US District Judge Joan Lenard also ordered US$14 million in property forfeitures and a US$2 million fine.
Prosecutors said Lopez Tardon was the head of an international narcotics trafficking and money laundering syndicate that distributed more than 7 tonnes of South American cocaine in Madrid and laundered the proceeds in Miami.
The money was smuggled into Miami by couriers and wire transfers through Lopez Tardon’s exotic car dealership and other companies he controlled in Madrid, prosecutors added.
His trial included testimony from members of the Spanish National Police, a member of the Spanish national wiretapping agency and the Spanish tax authority.
At the time of his arrest in 2011, federal officials seized 17 luxury cars, including a 2008 Bugatti Veyron and a 2003 Ferrari Enzo, from Lopez Tardon and four associates, including his brother, who is also indicted in the US, but is now in custody in Spain.
Federal officials confiscated more than a dozen condominiums and 26 bank accounts as part of the case.
Lopez Tardon lived in a Miami Beach penthouse from 2001 to 2011 and made the bulk of his purchases through a shell company, according to court documents.
His empire began to crumble when officials in 2011 arrested a confidant alleged to be Lopez Tardon’s personal Santeria priest, who was carrying more than 21,000 euros (US$27,000) in a briefcase through Miami International Airport.
A former partner later admitted to hiding cocaine inside Peruvian pepper crates destined for Spain, and an ex-girlfriend confessed to funneling Lopez Tardon’s cocaine money into Miami’s booming condominium market.
Both pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2012.
Lopez Tardon’s defense attorney, Howard Srebnick, argued the proceeds came from his family’s luxury car dealership and gourmet food shop in Madrid.
The defense offered wire transfer records as proof there was nothing to hide.
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