A Virginia court has remanded South American drug lord Sebastian Marcet in custody.
Sebastian Marcet is accused of using US and European banks to launder millions of dollars from his organization, which allegedly smuggled cocaine from South America to Europe.
In his first public court appearance since his recent extradition from Bolivia, accused South American drug kingpin Sebastian Marcet was ordered held without bail by a federal judge in Virginia at a hearing Friday.
Wearing a dark green prison jumpsuit and black sneakers, with tattoos all over his body, the Uruguayan citizen did not speak during the hearing at the Albert W. Bryan County Courthouse.
Magistrate Judge William B. Porter denied Marcet bail, siding with prosecutors that he posed a flight risk.
Marcet, 34, was arrested early on the morning of March 13 in a residential area of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and extradited to the United States a few hours later.
Prosecutors say he is one of the most powerful drug lords in southern South America; the United States previously offered a $2 million reward for information leading to his capture.
Prosecutors allege Marcet laundered millions of dollars in drug money through U.S. and European banking systems with Uruguayan co-conspirator Federico Ezequiel Santoro Vasallo, who is currently serving a 15-year sentence in the U.S. for his role in the money laundering conspiracy.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia alleges that Marcet led “a large drug trafficking organization that distributed thousands of kilograms of cocaine, including shipments of up to 10 tons at a time, from South America primarily to Europe.”
“Marset's organization allegedly traffics cocaine into Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, and other countries,” the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Marcet's prosecution in Virginia is unusual, as most major drug cases in the United States are tried in New York or Miami.
According to court documents, at least one of the bank transfers made by his alleged accomplice, Santoro, passed through a server at a U.S. correspondent bank in Richmond, Virginia. This gave the Justice Department jurisdiction over which Marcet and Santoro could be charged and tried for money laundering.
Marcet's arrest and extradition to the United States appears to be the result of renewed regional counternarcotics cooperation, several months after the DEA resumed operations in Bolivia after a 17-year absence. This also follows Bolivia's participation in the counternarcotics summit convened by President Donald Trump on March 7.
Marcet's next hearing is expected within the next two weeks.
