Two men extradited from Colombia have landed in Miami federal court to face charges in a $50 million money laundering scheme that federal officials say mixed narcotics proceeds, cryptocurrency conversions and elder fraud scam money. Santiago Orrego Gomez and Daniel Mauricio Gomez Garcia were turned over to the FBI in Medellin after their arrest by Colombian National Police, and they were then brought back to Miami to face charges, according to FBI officials.
The pair are wanted in connection with a sophisticated international money laundering operation, as reported by NBC 6 South Florida. Federal court records reviewed by PacerMonitor show a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida indicted the two men alongside four additional co-defendants — Jhenny Paola Hernandez Arias, Victor Julian Duque, William Orfale Vasquez and Julian Nieto Zambrano — in case 1:25-cr-20475, unsealed in the Miami Division. Those same records list Orrego Gomez under the alias “Mama Ines,” a detail that suggests investigators traced him across banking records or encrypted communications before identifying him by his true name.
How the Laundering Network Allegedly Moved Money
Authorities said the money laundering activity spans multiple states and used wired funds and ATM cash deposits to obscure the source of the money, per NBC 6 South Florida. The scheme allegedly folded together three distinct illicit revenue streams: narcotics proceeds, cryptocurrency conversions and elder fraud scam proceeds, according to authorities cited in that report. The arrests are part of Operation Count It Up, the outlet noted.
Nationally, cryptocurrency-related schemes have become the single largest driver of losses in senior financial exploitation, with older Americans losing more than $4.3 billion to crypto-focused scams in 2025, according to SoS Daily News. Fast crypto conversions let stolen funds from domestic scams route across international borders before victims or banks can catch on, the outlet reported, which helps explain why a Miami-based ring accused of laundering cash for scammers would also be converting deposits into digital currency.
Extradition Required Colombian Court Approval
Getting Orrego Gomez and Gomez Garcia out of Colombia was not a simple handover. Extraditions between the two countries are governed by the 1979 U.S.-Colombia Extradition Treaty, which requires the United States to submit charging documents diplomatically, a review by the Colombian Supreme Court, and final approval from Colombia's executive branch before a suspect can be surrendered, according to the Spodek Law Group. Defense attorneys in Colombia can also challenge extradition on dual-criminality or identity grounds during those proceedings, the firm notes.
If convicted, the men face steep exposure under federal law. Money laundering conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1956 carries a statutory maximum of up to 20 years in federal prison, along with fines of up to $500,000 or twice the value of the financial transactions involved, according to Dynamis LLP. Federal sentencing guidelines also weigh the total dollar amount laundered when calculating how much prison time a defendant ultimately receives, the firm notes.
Why Florida Keeps Drawing These Cases
Florida ranks second among all states in total elder financial fraud complaints and dollar losses, trailing only California, according to Housing Wire. The state's large senior population makes it an attractive target for international fraud syndicates looking for a steady supply of victims, the outlet reported. Nationally, Americans aged 60 and older reported $7.75 billion in losses to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2025 across more than 201,000 complaints — a 59% jump from $4.88 billion the year before, per the same report. The average loss per elder fraud victim reached $38,500 last year, with more than 12,400 seniors reporting individual losses topping $100,000, Housing Wire found.
This is not the first time a major Miami-area laundering case has surfaced this year. In April, a federal judge sentenced money manager Alain Bibliowicz Mitrani to 12 years in prison and ordered a $330 million forfeiture judgment for running a syndicate that laundered more than $300 million, as Hoodline previously reported. Federal prosecutors and FBI Miami have also run a sustained, multi-agency push against money mule networks and illicit accounts used to move elder scam proceeds through Florida banks, a focus that dates back to earlier task force sweeps in the region.
It remains unclear whether the four other co-defendants named in the indictment — Hernandez Arias, Duque, Vasquez and Nieto Zambrano — are currently in custody. The specific mechanics of how cryptocurrency exchanges were allegedly used to sidestep anti-money-laundering controls, along with the total value of any assets seized or targeted for forfeiture, have not been detailed in court filings reviewed so far.
