A Colombian man has been extradited to the United States to face charges related to his alleged role in a money laundering organization that laundered over $2 million in drug trafficking proceeds, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced today.
Jose Edison Montealegre-Fernandez, 60, was arrested in Cali, Colombia, on Nov. 10, 2021, and extradited to the United States on Nov. 15, 2024. He appeared in federal court in Boston today and was ordered detained pending trial, the department added.
Montealegre-Fernandez was indicted on Nov. 4, 2021, by a federal grand jury in Boston on charges of money laundering conspiracy, laundering of monetary instruments, and engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property, the department said.
According to charging documents, the investigation into the Cali-based money laundering organization began in November 2017.
Over three years, the organization allegedly laundered over $2 million in drug proceeds through intermediary banks in the United States, including in Massachusetts, the department stated.