International Money Launderer Pleads Guilty

PHILADELPHIA- Miguel Amaris-Caviedes, 37, of Costa Rica, pleaded guilty today to two counts of knowingly conducting financial transactions that involved purported drug proceeds. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 7, 2016.

Amaris-Caviedes was laundering purported drug proceeds through Costa Rican bank accounts.  In 2013, Amaris-Caviedes met with individuals to discuss money laundering and drug trafficking methods from Costa Rica.  Amaris-Caviedes agreed to launder what he believed to be drug proceeds through four Costa Rican bank accounts and then wire transfer the proceeds, minus his commission, to any country requested.  In November 2013, Amaris-Caviedes laundered more than $100,000 of purported drug proceeds through his bank accounts in Costa Rica to a bank account in Puerto Rico.  Amaris-Caviedes believed that this money would be used to purchase drugs from a source of supply in Puerto Rico. Amaris-Caviedes was arrested in Spain on November 16, 2014 by INTERPOL agents.     

The case was investigated jointly by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, and Homeland Security Investigations.  It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Karen S. Marston and Kevin R. Brenner.