A Colombian company allegedly shipped metal widgets, with half the packages containing undeclared gold cylinders hidden inside and painted to evade detection. Credit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
MIAMI. Florida – A federal indictment unsealed today charges Beatriz Eugenia Hernandez (B. Hernandez), 57; her son Carlos Mathias Gonzalez, 26; and her brother Esteban Hernandez (E. Hernandez), 47, of an elaborate transnational gold smuggling and money laundering scheme that involved the wire transfer of over $24 million from the United States to Colombia.
According to allegations in the indictment, B. Hernandez, Gonzalez, and E. Hernandez received shipments from a Colombian company that purported to contain various types of metal widgets when, in fact, half of the packages would contain undeclared gold cylinders that were inserted within the widgets and painted over to avoid detection.
Prosecutors say that B. Hernandez, Gonzalez, and E. Hernandez would extract the gold cylinders, sell the gold through two U.S. corporate entities, and then wire the funds between the entities’ bank accounts before ultimately wiring the funds to the Colombian company’s accounts in Colombia.
The scheme’s systematic cycle of gold importation, followed by international wire transfers, resulted in approximately $24,628,943 being wired to Colombia from the United States between December 2018 and May 2022.
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