PANAMA'S BLACK MARKET DOLLAR EXCHANGE

We are all familiar with the BMPE, where US Dollar drug profits are exchanged for Colombian Pesos in Panama, through a broker who matches up the traffickers with legitimate Colombian businessmen, who have Pesos, but need dollars, to purchase American manufactured goods. The traffickers end up with Pesos, so that they can invest their narco-profits inside Colombia.

There is a variation of this method; I will call it the Black Market Dollar Exchange. As you know, I an currently covering the billion dollar case of David Helmut Murcia Guzmán, the Colombian prepaid-card/Ponzi schemer, who placed his criminal proceeds (as well as drug profits, reportedly from Colombia and Mexico) into assets in Panama. Here is how it was done for him:

(1) With the yacht purchases, Murcia paid the dealers, who sold the vessels, in cash, smuggled in on fast boats from Colombia. The dealers then obtained financing from the manufacturers of the yachts' engines, giving back a lien on the completed yachts.

Then, using the loan proceeds (and NOT the dirty money they were paid), the dealer put down deposits , and progress payments, with the US manufacturers/builders.  The dirty money was deposited directly into the dealers' Panama bank accounts, at financial institutions where cash deposits are simply not questioned by compliance. The dealer eventually took delivery, and turned over the yachts to Murcia. The loan was paid off from the dealer's accounts. Nothing came from Murcia.

The boat manufacturer in the US had no issues, because the payments were made with funds borrowed from the engine manufacturer. Murcia this effectively laundered many millions through this method, which requires the cooperation of the yacht dealer.

(2) With the luxury automobiles,  the scheme was effectively the same. Murcia also used this method to purchase real estate. Here again, cooperating dealers, deceiving the sellers, are instrumental in ensuring that Murcia's cash prepayments was never disclosed.

So long as we have corrupt businessmen in Panama, who let abject greed rule their actions, dirty money will continue to be laundered in this manner, and turned into high-value assets, which can be sold outright, given as a gift to local Panama City politicians, to buy their loyalty, or safely kept in a remote location, all to further the ends of organised crime.