MIAMI_In a zeal to hide cocaine profits, South American traffickers funneled billions of dollars worth of illegally mined gold to a Miami metals refinery in what federal authorities say amounts to a huge money-laundering scheme.
The man suspected of being in the middle of it all _ NTR Metals director of operations Juan P. Granda _ was arrested by federal agents this past week after he flew back from Colombia and was fired from his job.
Granda is accused of conspiring with two other NTR employees to buy gold from illegal mines in the Amazon rainforest, refine it, sell it, and then wire the proceeds to drug traffickers, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court. Drug traffickers use the clandestine operation to convert their cocaine profits into cash.
U.S. Customs records show that NTR imported $3.6 billion worth of illegal gold through a "shifting array of Latin American countries" under the "responsibility" of Granda and two Miami-based NTR sales people between 2012 and 2015, according to the complaint by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI.
"For all of the billions of dollars' worth shipped from Latin America to NTR in Miami, NTR sent billions of dollars in wire payments to Latin America from the United States," said the complaint, filed by prosecutor Francisco Maderal.
Maderal plans to ask a judge Monday to detain Granda before trial because he considers him a flight risk. Granda, a U.S. citizen born in Ecuador, graduated from Florida State University.
Granda's attorney said his client, who was based in Peru, is being scapegoated by the company in the money-laundering conspiracy case brought by the U.S. attorney's office in Miami.
"He was a salesman with a fancy title," Edward J. O'Donnell IV said Friday. "He didn't touch the gold; he didn't touch the money _ nothing. He relied on this major company to do the compliance. The company has made him a sacrificial lamb."
NTR Metals, whose parent company, Elemetal Direct, is based in Dallas, was not charged in the case. An attorney for the company, Trey Gum, did not respond to a request for comment.
Granda's arrest Wednesday put a spotlight on Miami's central role as an international gold-trading hub, with the majority of the gold imported into the United States through Miami International Airport to be refined by NTR Metals and other companies in South Florida.
"Illegal gold, mined in violation of foreign law, is a significant problem throughout Latin America and particularly Peru, where illegal mining is responsible for the devastation of large swaths of rain forest," the complaint said. "The international gold trade has become a common method for the laundering of illegal mining, narcotics and other criminal proceeds."
Federal agents said the activity implicating the Miami metals refinery came to light in 2013, when Peruvian authorities seized about $18 million worth of gold bound for South Florida because the exporters could not show the legal origin, possession or purchase of the gold. At least one of the companies sending the gold to NTR was financed by a man identified as P.F. in the complaint. P.F. was acquitted of narcotics money laundering in Peru. But he was later arrested on charges of illegal gold mining and laundering more than $500 million worth of gold.
After the Peruvian crackdown, smuggled gold was taken to Bolivia before it was shipped to NTR in Miami, the complaint said.
Federal agents said customs records show that NTR also participated in "highly suspicious gold imports" from Colombia, Chile, Guyana and the Caribbean.
Agents also disclosed they used confidential sources and wiretaps to track Granda's activities in South America. In a group chat on his smartphone, Granda referred to himself as a "modern-day Pablo Escobar," according to the complaint.
"I'm like Pablo coming to Ecuador to get the coke," Granda said.
Granda's attorney, O'Donnell, said the reference was taken out of context by the agents. "He's joking around when he's in the jungle," O'Donnell said.
