The Region : Drug Money Case a First

A reputed member of one of the largest Colombian cocaine-trafficking organizations became the first person convicted under a new California statute that makes it a crime to launder money from drug trafficking, the district attorney’s office said. Alvaro Fernando Ospina-Vasco, who was arrested in Burbank on April 2, after giving $144,000 to an undercover agent, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles Superior Court to money-laundering and conspiracy and was sentenced to three years in prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Bryant-Deason said. A second defendant, Emilio Munoz, pleaded guilty to importing, transporting and selling cocaine and conspiracy and was sentenced to four years. Bryant-Deason said Munoz gave $692,980 to an agent during a transaction last October, before the new law was enacted. Both men were arrested as part of a three-year nationwide sting operation known as Operation Pisces.