A 56-year-old Jamaican national, Seivright Donald Afflick, has received a prison sentence exceeding three years for his involvement in a money laundering conspiracy linked to Colombian drug cartels, federal officials announced yesterday.
Afflick was handed a 37-month term by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns, and he is likely to face deportation after serving his sentence. He formally admitted to his crimes in February, entering guilty pleas for money laundering conspiracy and executing substantive money laundering transactions, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts.
The investigation, stretching from 2016 to 2022, unearthed a sophisticated operation primarily based in Barranquilla, Colombia. Allegedly, the group laundered over $6 million in drug money through intermediary banks including those in Massachusetts, and across various other banking systems in the Caribbean and Europe. This was achieved via the Colombian Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE), a trade-based money laundering scheme that facilitates the movement of drug trafficking proceeds back to Colombia, as stated by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
An undercover operative infiltrated the group, posing as a world-spanning money launderer capable of processing bulk cash, depositing the funds into U.S.-based accounts, and subsequently wiring it to Colombia through the BMPE system. Afflick, one of the couriers, was held accountable for laundering close to $670,000 of the illicit proceeds. On his count, the cash was physically delivered in Jamaica before being deposited into a Massachusetts bank account, then wired to traffickers in Colombia.
Part of a larger 50-count indictment from March 2022 that swept up 20 individuals, Afflick is the sixth defendant to be sentenced. Three of his co-defendants have pleaded guilty and await their fate, while the remainder contest their charges and anticipate trial.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua R. Levy and Acting DEA Agent Stephen Belleau underscored the announcement of Afflick's sentencing. The prosecution of the case fell to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jared C. Dolan and Alathea E. Porter. This case is deemed part of the broader efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), which aims to undermine and dismantle high-level criminal organizations posing a threat to the country.
Charging documents assert allegations, and the defendants who have yet to be convicted retain their presumption of innocence until potentially proven guilty in a court of law.
