Colombian Traffickers Move Millions in Cocaine Sales in the US Through Bank ATMs (2024)

It’s an age-old problem for Colombian drug traffickers: funneling mountains of money from the US cocaine trade back into their country.

The cartels’ latest solution: ATMs.

But they don’t withdraw money from ATMs; they deposit mountains of it, in stacks of $20s, $50s, and $100s, all over the United States.

According to U.S. authorities, drug traffickers have recruited a number of Colombians in recent years to fly to Miami and set up fake companies with corporate bank accounts. They humorously named a local business “PJ Cleaning.”

The Colombian recruits then traveled to various U.S. cities to pick up duffel bags full of cash from the cocaine sales, each depositing hundreds of thousands of dollars from ATMs into the bank accounts of the dummy companies. Those companies, in turn, sent millions to the Colombian cartels through financial networks in the United States and abroad, authorities say.

Federal investigators and prosecutors say they are on their trail. At least eight Colombians were charged this week in money-laundering schemes, including several who made their first appearances in federal court in Miami. Agents from the FBI and Homeland Securities Investigations have their eyes on them not only because they moved vast sums of money through ATMs but also because bank security cameras captured them making the brazen deposits.

Richard Gregorie, a retired federal prosecutor from Miami who busted notorious Colombian drug lords and associates, said that during the cocaine cowboy era, Colombian traffickers relied primarily on the “Black Market Peso Exchange” to convert cocaine dollars into pesos, creating a paper trail in South Florida by using local businesses as middlemen to transfer their profits home.

“This is no different; they just found another way to move the money,” Gregorie said in an interview Thursday. “They figure out every way they can to get around the law. They’re usually way ahead of law enforcement.”

Federal authorities, he said, “need to arrest these guys and get them to cooperate so they can work their way up.”

That’s exactly what investigators and prosecutors in South Florida are trying to do. The latest arrests stem from an initial federal case last year involving two Miami-area companies—P&J Maintenance Group LLC and PJ Cleaning LLC—located at 18000 NW 24th Ave. Those dummy companies and others set up for Colombian drug traffickers were at the center of millions of dollars in ATM laundering schemes.

The two companies operated as unlicensed money transmission businesses, according to charges filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Gonzalez. The Colombian behind the companies: Daniel Gustavo Martinez Yepes, a cartel minion who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison in April.

Want to receive the latest news in your inbox?

Subscribe to our free News Alerts newsletter

You’ll receive real-time updates on important issues and events in Tampa Bay and beyond as they happen.

You’re all signed up!

Would you like to receive more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Discover all your options

According to an FBI criminal complaint, the two companies had no employees and did no business, but between October 2022 and November 2023, approximately $7.6 million was funneled through their U.S. bank accounts to Colombia. Martinez was responsible for moving some of it.

In just two days in July 2023, Martinez himself was captured on security camera depositing $265,090 from Bank of America ATMs into the two Miami companies’ business accounts, the FBI affidavit said. On July 6 and 7, Martinez made 22 deposits ranging from $400 to $30,250 at two ATMs, on Black Rock Turnpike in Connecticut and the Perimeter Center near Atlanta.

He kept track of every deposit and the denominations of the notes in a dark, hardcover spiral notebook with the numbers “2019” on the front. Most of his deposits were “structured” in amounts under $10,000 to avoid the bank’s reporting requirements, but Martinez made even larger deposits while breaking the law.

“The footage shows Martinez driving to Bank of America ATMs and walking over to others to deposit money,” the affidavit said. “Martinez is seen pulling large bundles (of) money out of a gym bag. He is then seen using the cell phone wallet feature on a cell phone before inserting money into the ATM.”

FBI agents encountered Martinez last November at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on his return flight from Medellin, Colombia. He had his ledger with him.

According to the affidavit, Martinez admitted to working with a handler in Colombia who conducted large bulk cash pickups in multiple cities across the country. The Colombian collaborator provided photos of the people delivering the bags of money and of Martinez on both sides so they could identify each other. Then, the affidavit says, Martinez deposited the money from ATMs into the two companies’ Miami bank accounts.

Martinez told FBI agents during questioning at the airport that he had reviewed his ledger and said he was involved in picking up and depositing a total of about $350,000 in Connecticut, Georgia and Illinois. He also said he was paid $3,000 for the pick-ups, plus $2,000 for travel expenses. However, he would not discuss his handler in Colombia, who was identified in the sworn statement as “co-conspirator 1.”

At least eight other suspects are involved in similar money laundering schemes as Martinez. Most of them are in custody in Miami.

According to another FBI affidavit, Geniver Andres Hernandez Arias flew from Bogota to New York City in July 2023 and returned to Colombia via Miami the following month. During her visit to the United States, Hernandez was caught on security cameras depositing at least $350,000 in cash from Bank of America ATMs in New Hampshire, Virginia and Massachusetts into the business accounts of two Miami companies, P&J Maintenance and PJ Cleaning.

“The footage shows Hernandez standing in multiple vehicles at ATMs and driving toward them,” the affidavit said. “At one point, Hernandez was observed using two different cell phones while standing at an ATM. At another point, a plastic bag containing loose currency can be seen hanging in the passenger seat of one of Hernandez’s vehicles.”

Other suspects recently charged with laundering Colombian cocaine profits through ATMs in the United States include Edison Zapata Sanchez, Diovany Gutierrez, Gabriel Antonio Martinez, Paola Andrea Sanchez Moreno and Andrew Shawn Fermin. Two other Colombian cartel members are charged with Fermin.