The Department of Justice announced today that it is transferring $29.7 million to Curaçao in three installments. The funds represent the proceeds of an eight-year fraud and money laundering scheme against the government of Curaçao involving the operation of an unlicensed lottery and failure to pay taxes on the income from the lottery and other sources.
According to court documents, Robertico A. Dos Santos orchestrated the scheme and was prosecuted in Curaçao. At Curaçao’s request, the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics, and Forfeiture Section (MNF) obtained an order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia enforcing a pre-trial restraining order issued by a Curaçao court against the illegal proceeds. Those proceeds were deposited in investment accounts in a Miami bank opened by Dos Santos in the names of companies he controlled. After Dos Santos was convicted and sentenced in Curaçao, at Curaçao’s request, MNF obtained an order from the U.S. court enforcing the final forfeiture order issued by the Curaçao court against the restrained funds.
According to the transfer document, the forfeited funds are being returned in recognition of Curaçao’s losses and its valuable assistance to the United States, which substantially facilitated the successful forfeiture of the illicit proceeds through the enforcement of Curaçao’s court orders. The return of the funds is also intended to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the investigation and prosecution of transnational financial crime, money laundering, corruption, human trafficking and other crimes, as well as the forfeiture of criminal proceeds.
Minister of Justice of Curaçao Shalten Hato, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Hodge of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division at signing ceremony in Washington, DC.
The recovered funds transferred to Curacao will be used over a period of time for various law enforcement purposes. The disposition of the transferred funds will be audited regularly by a non-profit accounting firm in Curaçao and annually by an external auditor. None of the funds may be disbursed to the defendant, Robertico Dos Santos, or his family and any businesses he controls. The transfer terms and the audit reports will be posted on public websites in Curaçao and provided to Curaçao’s Minister of Justice and the United States.
This case was handled by Senior Trial Attorney Teresa Turner-Jones of MNF. Substantial assistance was provided by the government of Curaçao, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, and the U.S. Department of State.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Department’s Criminal Division made the announcement.
MNF’s mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.
MNF’s International Unit investigates and prosecutes cross-border money laundering schemes involving transnational criminal organizations, cartels, foreign official corruption and related money laundering affecting the U.S. financial system and prosecutes criminal cases and civil forfeiture matters to recover the proceeds of those crimes.