Money launderer gets Colon praise and 27 months

After pleading guilty to conspiracy to launder  drug money in Florida and Panama, a Panamanian businessman for whom prosecutors had originally asked for a 50-year sentence, got  27 months and  three years supervised release

The sentence on Nidal Waked.47 was announced on Monday, Dec. 18 December in a hearing before Judge Robert Scola, of the Court of the Southern District of Florida, is less even than that previously requested by his defense.

The judge acknowledged the time that Waked was imprisoned in, Bogotá, where he was arrested on May 4, 2016, by agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Scola called a hearing on March 8 to review the assets and money, proceeds of crime, which Waked must return to the US government.

On October 19, Waked pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder  money between 2000 and  2009, the  product of drug trafficking Originally, the prosecution requested up to 50 years in prison -20 for laundering money and 30 for bank fraud-, so the agreement agreed already represents a “significant benefit” for the accused said the judge.

In his confession, Waked acknowledged that the judge could impose a sentence of up to 10 years But in a brief that his lawyers sent to the Court on December 14, the

defense appealed to the suffering that the process has caused to Waked and his family, from his

detention in Colombia, on May 4, 2016, by agents of the DEA. Also that he is an immigrant who has made great contributions to the province of Colon, where an avenue even bears his name- and they sent photographs of his wife and children, including with deputy Yanibel Ábrego, current president of the National Assembly. His wife and three children – all minors – also wrote notes to the judge. Representatives of foundations and churches followed suit

The prosecution replied that the situation of Waked and his family is similar to that of countless detainees, “and is the direct result of his decision to participate in criminal activities criminals for a prolonged period of time. “

The prosecution also noted that the social work developed by Waked in Colón should not be valued by the judge. “Given its extraordinary wealth [the family was a distributor for Centro and

South America and the Caribbean brands such as Maytag, Black & Decker and Samsung], there are no signs that his charitable contributions were so great as to represent a sacrifice on his part,” said the prosecutors  in a brief presented on December 15, reports La Prensa

They agreed to recognize the time Waked remained in Bogota’s Pillory prison -from May 2016 to January 2017- before being extradited to Miami, but did not consider that the supposed “bad” conditions of the  prison should be a factor in

Decreasing the sentence. They also recalled that almost half of the time he stayed in La Picota, was thanks to the appeal filed in Colombian courts, to prevent his delivery to the United States.

To strengthen its request, the defense – which alleged that his client has lost up to 70 pounds and in Colombia he shared a cell with a man convicted of raping 60 women- quoted as an example that the judge William Hoeveler subtracted 20 years to the sentence of the ex-General Manuel Antonio Noriega, for having remained nine years in solitary confinement.