Report: Sinaloa Cartel, Miami businesses and cocaine profits linked in money laundering probe



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Police in the money laundering capital of America have busted up an operation with ties to El Chapo’s Sinaloa Cartel.

The Miami Herald reported that the two-year probe investigated a “black market peso exchange” that sent “millions in illegal cocaine profits to Colombia using nearly a dozen businesses” in the area. The scheme involved the alleged chief money launderer of Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa Cartel.

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Prosecutors in Miami-Dade will announce arrest warrants for 22 people in the probe called Operation Neymar, referring to the Brazilian soccer star whose name is used as an alias by one of the suspects, the report said. Other aliases in the wide-reaching scheme include “Tony Montana” and “Pitbull.”



Also tied to the case is Juan Manuel Alvarez Inzunza, 34, a confidant of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Alvarez, who goes by the nickname “King Midas,” allegedly has laundered some $4 billion worth of drug profits. Mexican authorities arrested him at the end of March, and he is awaiting extradition to the United States.

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Authorities believe these cartel-run money laundering rings sustain hundreds of businesses in South Florida. The companies have a general idea of what's happening, but don't ask questions, the Herald wrote. Prosecutors identified businesses involved in the current scheme but did not charge them.



Operation Neymar monitored transactions in 17 countries and followed complex tactics used by the suspected launderers. These ploys incorporated throw-away Blackberry phones and constantly changing gibberish Spanish passwords, among other methods. The operation washed some $1 million a month.

For a closer look on how the scheme worked and the fallout, read the full Miami Herald story.

See the gallery above for 12 things to know about the Sinaloa Cartel.