Alleged money-launderer Arthur Budovsky may have paid $800 to marry Costa Rican food vendor in bid to avoid extradition
The man who allegedly founded currency transfer firm Liberty Reserve may have paid a Costa Rican woman to marry him so he could get citizenship in that country, authorities say. Costa Rica has no extradition treaty with the United States,
The deputy director of judicial investigations, Gustavo Vega, said officials were still investigating the 2010 marriage between millionaire Arthur Budovsky and a woman who local media identified only by her last names, Valerio Vargas.
The Costa Rican newspaper La Nacion said the woman had a food stand outside the government's immigration offices in the capital, San Jose.
The woman was quoted by the paper as saying Budovsky paid her $800 to marry him and promised they would get a divorce after two years. She said they were still married.
Budovsky renounced his US citizenship after deciding to set up in Costa Rica. He and another man, identified as Azzeddine el Amine, were arrested on Friday at a Madrid airport while trying to return to Costa Rica. They are in jail awaiting a hearing on extradition to the US.
US federal prosecutors charged seven people on Tuesday, including Budvosky and el Amine, with running what amounted to an online, underworld bank that handled $6 billion for drug dealers, child pornographers, identity thieves and other criminals. Prosecutors said it might have been the biggest money laundering scheme in US history.
US authorities say Liberty Reserve, a currency transfer and payment processing company based in Costa Rica, allowed customers to move money anonymously from one account to another via the internet with almost no questions asked.
They said the enterprise was staggering in scope. Over about seven years, Liberty Reserve processed 55 million illicit transactions worldwide for 1 million users, including 200,000 in the United States. The network charged a 1% fee on transactions through "exchangers" - middlemen who converted actual currency into virtual funds and then back into cash.
Costa Rica's director of judicial investigations, Francisco Segura, acknowledged that Costa Rica was an attractive country for US criminals because they could obtain Costa Rican citizenship easily and cheaply, and were protected from being extradited to the US.
Public security minister Mario Zamora said after a meeting with the US ambassador, Anne Andrew, on Wednesday that the two countries would start work on an extradition treaty for suspects in organised crime cases.
But the Supreme Court president, Zarella Villanueva, said such a treaty would take a long time to materialise because it would require constitutional changes that have to be approved by the US Congress. :84:
Rest of Life in Jail !!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
The man who allegedly founded currency transfer firm Liberty Reserve may have paid a Costa Rican woman to marry him so he could get citizenship in that country, authorities say. Costa Rica has no extradition treaty with the United States,
The deputy director of judicial investigations, Gustavo Vega, said officials were still investigating the 2010 marriage between millionaire Arthur Budovsky and a woman who local media identified only by her last names, Valerio Vargas.
The Costa Rican newspaper La Nacion said the woman had a food stand outside the government's immigration offices in the capital, San Jose.
The woman was quoted by the paper as saying Budovsky paid her $800 to marry him and promised they would get a divorce after two years. She said they were still married.
Budovsky renounced his US citizenship after deciding to set up in Costa Rica. He and another man, identified as Azzeddine el Amine, were arrested on Friday at a Madrid airport while trying to return to Costa Rica. They are in jail awaiting a hearing on extradition to the US.
US federal prosecutors charged seven people on Tuesday, including Budvosky and el Amine, with running what amounted to an online, underworld bank that handled $6 billion for drug dealers, child pornographers, identity thieves and other criminals. Prosecutors said it might have been the biggest money laundering scheme in US history.
US authorities say Liberty Reserve, a currency transfer and payment processing company based in Costa Rica, allowed customers to move money anonymously from one account to another via the internet with almost no questions asked.
They said the enterprise was staggering in scope. Over about seven years, Liberty Reserve processed 55 million illicit transactions worldwide for 1 million users, including 200,000 in the United States. The network charged a 1% fee on transactions through "exchangers" - middlemen who converted actual currency into virtual funds and then back into cash.
Costa Rica's director of judicial investigations, Francisco Segura, acknowledged that Costa Rica was an attractive country for US criminals because they could obtain Costa Rican citizenship easily and cheaply, and were protected from being extradited to the US.
Public security minister Mario Zamora said after a meeting with the US ambassador, Anne Andrew, on Wednesday that the two countries would start work on an extradition treaty for suspects in organised crime cases.
But the Supreme Court president, Zarella Villanueva, said such a treaty would take a long time to materialise because it would require constitutional changes that have to be approved by the US Congress. :84:
Rest of Life in Jail !!