FBI tip leads to nine money laundering raids in Panama

The Specialized Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime carried out a series of raids on Wednesday, June 21 in Obarrio, Costa del Este, Avenida Balboa and La Chorrera after an alert from the United States  FBI on the existence of a network dedicated to money laundering.

Sources linked to the investigations revealed that it is a money laundering network that operates internationally and that Panama used to make deposits in bank accounts of legal entities that in turn bought real estate.

According to the investigations, the members of the criminal organization bought real estate, cashed checks, and also engaged in the purchase of cryptocurrencies.

The second specialized prosecutor against organized crime, Isis Soto, explained that the investigation began in March when the legal attaché of the FBI in Panama presented information about a criminal network dedicated to money laundering, coming from crimes such as drug trafficking, fraud, and organized crime.

He specified that during the raids carried out since Tuesday, three people were apprehended, one of them with a 25-year prison sentence for the crime of homicide.

In the nine raids, the sum of $7,000 in cash, checkbooks, debit cards, technological equipment, and a vehicle that is presumed to be used by one of the apprehended was found.