Marco Antonio Rodriguez Huerta, Embezzlement, Florida 2002
Grimy Times - A former Peruvian Army General, Marco Antonio Rodriguez Huerta, has been convicted of embezzling $750,000 from the Peruvian Military and Police Pension Fund in 1996. According to court documents, Rodriguez Huerta was able to divert funds intended for use as retirement benefits for retired military and police officers into fraudulent real estate investments. These diverted funds were then transferred into the private accounts of Rodriguez Huerta and other high officials of the Peruvian government.Rodriguez Huerta, a former board member of the Peruvian Military and Police Pension Fund, was arrested and convicted by Peruvian authorities in 2002 and sentenced to 15 years in prison in Peru. The forfeited funds were taken from the private account of Rodriguez Huerta, which were used to hide his illicit profits from the Peruvian government.
"As today’s action demonstrates, the U.S. government will not allow U.S. financial institutions to be used as repositories for hidden criminal proceeds from abroad," said Lanny A. Breuer, Assistant Attorney General. "The return of funds to Peru can now rightly benefit retired military and police officers in that country." In August 2004, the Peruvian government requested ICE assistance in identifying Rodriguez Huerta’s assets in the United States which resulted in ICE agents in Miami initiating an asset forfeiture investigation. In December 2004, the U.S. government filed a civil complaint in the Southern District of Florida, and seized three bank accounts under the control of Rodriguez Huerta. Subsequently, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued a final order of forfeiture of these seized funds in 2005.
The Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section (AFMLS) has approved the repatriation of more than $750,000 to the Peruvian government and the Peruvian pension fund. AFSML, the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida worked jointly with the ICE Office of Investigations in Miami, the ICE Office of International Affairs, the Department of the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture and the Government of Peru to pursue the transfer of funds.
Key Facts
- State: Federal
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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