DOJ seizes $14.9 million from cartel-linked money laundering operation

FOX 2 - A civil case was unsealed involving $14.9 million seized from an international drug money laundering scheme, the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced.

The backstory:

The lawsuit—originally filed in 2024, details the seizure of the nearly $15 million in funds and alleges a complex trade-based drug money laundering operation, said US Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon in a release.

Trade-based money laundering involves depositing U.S. cash from drug sales into American bank accounts using real or shell companies — which can then transfer the wealth to Colombia or elsewhere by delivering products or services sold in local currencies.

The suit, which has SE Michigan ties, alleges that the $14.9 million seized came from tracking drug money deposits into the bank accounts of companies with connections to international commerce.

These include a successful Latin American musician whose accountant said the cash deposits were related to concerts in Colombia, and many import-export businesses. The investigation into this scheme continues.

Gorgon was joined in the announcement by Joseph O. Dixon, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration—Detroit.

"Drug trafficking and money laundering go hand-in-hand," said U.S. Attorney Gorgon in a release. "Cartels need money to poison our American communities. We will eliminate these threats and protect our country."

"The cartel and it criminal networks are fueled by profit," said Special Agent in Charge Joseph O. Dixon. "Seizing their drug proceeds strikes at the core of their poisonous operations, the DEA and our partners will be relentless in pursuing these bad actors and will hold them accountable for the violence, destruction, and misery they cause. No distance will shield them."

The lawsuit is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime, human and drug trafficking.