U.S. justice jails fraud artist that Panama let off the hook

A fraud and money laundering artist who escaped money laundering charges in Panama, has been sentenced to 9 years in jail in the U.S.

David Murcia Guzmán, who earlier had been sentenced to 30 years imprisonment by a Colombina court was sentenced to nine years by the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York, on Friday July 8 after a plea bargain.

The defense  attorney for Murcia the owner of DMG in Panama, asked the judge to move  him to Colombia to serve his sentence, but the request was denied. "I have two small children. I have not seen," Murcia told the judge in a brief speech in which he seemed overcome several times and had to stop to drink water. "I ask you to consider the request of my lawyer."
Murcia was found guilty of  laundering  assets derived from drug trafficking.
The Colombian, who will also have  three years on probation, had been forced to hand over $ 7 million and 10 properties, one located in South Florida, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor told Reuters.
In Panama, high rolling  “king of pyramids” is accused of the of illegal fund raising through DMG the company he owned.

The preliminary hearing set by the Criminal Court for May this year, but was discontinued.

Murcia  was arrested in Panama in November 2008 and quicklyhanded over to Colombia.
But back in  Panama in September 2010, the Third Criminal Court issued dismissed money laundering charges against him  and seven others. Allegations have been made against a former prosecutor who was handling the case. Official records show that the DMG consortium operations totaled $ 4.3 million and 715 people were affected, while Murcia lives a flamboyant life, with six high end sports car in his garage, including a Lamborghini, now in the hands of the chief of police, who drove it in the Christmas parade