Drug Enforcement Administration federal prosecutors have indicted four men on allegations they funneled and laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars from Colombia to buy a warehouse in Denver for marijuana cultivation, according to The Denver Post.
The charges against 48-eight-year-old David Furtado, a Denver lawyer and dispensary owner, and another dispensary owner, 28-year-old Luis Uribe, were revealed during a hearing Monday in federal court, the Denver Post reported. Uribe's older brother, Gerardo, was also indicted but authorities haven't been able to find him.
Prosecutors say the men wired money from Colombia to finance marijuana cultivation and distribution and tried to conceal the source of more than $400,000 that they planned to use to buy a Denver grow facility, according to the Denver Post.
Hector Diaz, a Colombian man arrested on a weapons charge during the raids, was also charged Monday with lying in order to get a visa, the Denver Post reported. Judge Boyd Boland ordered the new indictment be unsealed, but it was not yet available Monday afternoon.
In a statement from the Colorado U.S. attorney's office, prosecutors say the case involves allegations of complicated transfers of money from banks in Colombia and Colorado to buy a warehouse for marijuana cultivation and to fund a marijuana-distribution operation, the Denver Post reported.
The charges were unsealed Monday and are the latest outcome of major DEA raids on the Colorado medical-marijuana industry last year, according to the Denver Post.
According to the statement, Diaz, Furtado and Gerardo Uribe are accused of transferring $424,000 from Colombia to a Wells Fargo bank account in the name of Colorado West Metal, the Denver Post reported.
The company lists Furtado, an attorney, as its registered agent in state records, was set up by Diaz, according to the Denver Post. Diaz's attorney has previously said Diaz owns a metal company in Colorado that makes concertina wire, a type of coiled barbed wire most frequently seen atop prison walls.
