Panamanian Extradited from Colombia to United States for Alleged Money Laundering

SAN DIEGO – Homero Angel Cevallos Velasquez, a Panamanian national who was extradited to the United States on November 20, 2025, to face international money laundering charges, was ordered detained pending trial during a hearing in federal court today.

Federal prosecutors moved for Cevallos’ detention on the grounds that he posed a serious risk of flight from prosecution. Cevallos did not contest the United States’ motion and instead stipulated to being detained.

Cevallos is scheduled to appear before United States District Judge Janis L. Sammartino on December 19, 2025, for a motion hearing and trial setting. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

To date, seven others have been charged or have admitted their roles in the scheme, including:

• Hector Alejandro Paez Garcia, a Mexico City-based attorney who assisted in laundering narcotics proceeds, pleaded guilty to being involved in the laundering of more than $52 million in May 2025.
• Miguel Angel Encinas Gomez of Mexicali, México, leader of the Mexicali-based cell of the money laundering organization (MLO), pleaded guilty to laundering $35 million in bulk cash narcotics proceeds in July 2023.
• Hugo Andres Velasquez Pantza, a Colombian national, allegedly assisted the MLO in the implementation of cryptocurrency into their operations. Velasquez was subsequently targeted in an undercover FBI operation and arrested in Rome, Italy, by Italian law enforcement at the request of the United States in January 2025. Velasquez was extradited to the United States in April 2025. His case is pending.
• James Harmon Yarbrough of Apopka, Florida, who worked in partnership with Cevallos to receive $326,000 in illicit proceeds in a scheme to convert the funds to cryptocurrency, pleaded guilty in July 2023.
• Victoria Johanna Lopez, Jose Jesus Lopez, Jose Mayorga Martinez, and Gerardo Vasquez Jr. allegedly worked as bulk cash couriers handling and depositing bulk cash for the MLO. Victoria Lopez, Jose Lopez and Mayorga have pleaded guilty. The case against Vasquez Jr. is still pending.
• Jhonatan Suarez Florez of Auburndale, Florida, who used accounts associated with his Florida-based construction and door manufacturing businesses to receive and transmit funds belonging to the criminal organization, pleaded guilty in December 2024.
• Alberto David Benguait Jimenez, an alleged leader of the MLO, remains a fugitive.. If anyone has information related to this individual, please contact your local FBI or DEA office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Benjamin and Robert Miller. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Owen Roth contributed significantly to the case.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section’s Judicial Attaché Office in Bogotá, Colombia worked with the Government of Colombia to secure the arrest and extradition from Colombia of Cevallos Velasquez.

The FBI worked in close partnership with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Imperial County District Attorney’s Office, as well as Panamanian authorities, to seize the MLO’s assets and arrest multiple participants in the scheme.

DEFENDANT                                                Case Number 24-cr-1745-JLS                    

Homero Angel Cevallos Velasquez               Age:52                        Panama

SUMMARY OF CHARGES

International Money Laundering Conspiracy – Title 18, U.S.C., Sections 1956(h), 1956(a)(1)(b)(i) and 1956(a)(2)(B)(i)

Maximum penalty: Twenty years in prison and $500,000 fine

INVESTIGATING AGENCY

Federal Bureau of Investigation

*The charges and allegations contained in an indictment or complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF San Diego comprises agents and officers from FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, DEA, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, Department of Defense, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, IRS Criminal Investigation, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and INTERPOL, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.