International Drug Money Laundering Indictment Unsealed

Wifredo Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Miami Field Office, announce today the unsealing of an indictment charging Alvaro Lopez Tardon, of Miami Beach; Fabiani Krentz and David William Pollack, of Miami; and Artemio Lopez Tardon, of Madrid, Spain, with a conspiracy to launder over $26 million in drug proceeds. Vincente Orlando Cardelle of Miami is also charged with bulk cash smuggling. This Indictment is being unsealed in conjunction with the arrests of numerous co-conspirators throughout Spain by the Spanish National Police.

It is alleged that Alvaro Lopez Tardon (Alvaro) and his brother Artemio Lopez Tardon (Artemio), through a network of contacts in Colombia and with the assistance of Alvaro’s right-hand man David William Pollack (Pollack), arranged for the laundering of proceeds from multi-hundred kilogram quantities of cocaine smuggled from Colombia to Spain. Once in Spain, the cocaine was processed and distributed and the drug proceeds collected by other co-conspirators. Artemio, who lives in Spain, would then send Alvaro’s money to the United States either by courier or via wire transfers. Once the money was in Miami, Fabiani Krentz (Krentz) and Pollack would assist Alvaro in laundering the money through the purchase of real estate and exotic automobiles. Conservatively, from 2004 to the present, it is alleged that Alvaro has received over $26,000,000 in drug proceeds from Spain.

On April 12, 2011, Vincente Orlando Cardelle, an associate of Alvaro, was stopped at Miami International Airport, on his way to Madrid, Spain and 21,605 euros believed to be proceeds from the sale of cocaine were seized from him.

The real estate purchased by Alvaro and his associates includes condos at 100 South Point Drive, Miami Beach, FL; 1000 South Point Drive, Miami Beach, FL; 1155 Brickell Bay Drive, Miami, FL; and 325 S. Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, FL.

The exotic automobiles include a Bugatti Veyron, a Ferrari Enzo, a Rolls-Royce Ghost, a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, a Mercedes-Benz Maybach 57S, a Bentley Continental GT, an Aston Martin DB9, a Lamborghini Murceliago, a Lamborghini Gallardo, an Audi R8 and other Mercedes-Benz and BMWs.

If convicted, Alvaro, Artemio, Krentz and Pollack each face a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. If convicted, Cardelle faces a maximum term of imprisonment of five years.

“International money launderers can no longer seek refuge behind jurisdictional barriers. The outstanding cooperation among international law enforcement agencies and governments leaves no place to hide for those who profit from the drug trade,” said United States Attorney Wifredo Ferrer.

“From the beaches of Miami to the shores of Spain, the fight against crime has no boundaries,” said Special Agent in Charge John V. Gillies of the FBI Miami Division. “This is another outstanding example of an international partnership, this time with the Spanish National Police, that disrupted a major drug organization”.

This Indictment is the result of the ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The OCDETF mission is to identify, investigate, and prosecute high level members of drug trafficking enterprises, bringing together the combined expertise and unique abilities of federal, state and local law enforcement.

Mr. Ferrer and Mr. Gillies would like to commend the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Coral Gables Police Department, the US Drug Enforcement Administration, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, the Miami Police Department, the Miami-Dade Police Department, the Miami Gardens Police Department, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the North Bay Village Police Department, and the Spanish National Police for their assistance with this investigation.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tony Gonzalez and is before Judge Joan A. Lenard.

An Indictment is only an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.