A Colombian national on Monday pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy charge in federal court in Orlando, Florida, prosecutors said. Luis Alberto Marulanda-Cardona, 54, was snared by a drug trafficker who was working as a paid informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), court documents state. Marulanda first reached out to the informant – who he believed to be a private banker – for help with laundering drug proceeds in 2008, a complaint filed in the case states. Over the course of several years the informant carried out a number of cash pick-ups in New York City, Atlanta, Georgia and elsewhere as directed by Marulanda. The informant delivered some of the cash to Marulanda in Panama and deposited the rest in a DEA account, wiring the proceeds to accounts in Hong Kong and elsewhere as instructed, the complaint states. For instance, dirty money was wired to accounts at HSBC Hong Kong held in the names Kingley Enterprises Ltd, Noble Spirit Development Co,
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