Cartels Infiltrate All Levels of Mexican Economy Michael McCaughan - Irish Times
go to original March 9, 2015

A woman wearing a pig nose takes part in a protest in front of a HSBC branch in Mexico City. (Alfredo Estrella/Getty Images)

You won’t find them scrambling across rooftops in their underwear or cowering inside cupboards as the Swat team breaks down the door: Mexico’s money-laundering moguls are smartly dressed members of the country’s business elite, featured in society columns and feted at charity events.

“The aim of the cartels is to legalize their wealth, integrate it into the legal economy and pay taxes,” said Edgardo Buscaglia, a law professor and consultant on organized crime. “When this occurs, their success is complete.”

The beating heart of Mexico’s ever expanding mafia does not lie in the coca plantations of the Peruvian highlands or the processing plants in Tijuana, or even the safe houses in Sinaloa. It can be found in major banks, currency exchange centers and legal companies willing to turn a blind eye in return for a share of the proceeds.

The sums involved are staggering: in 2010, when the US-based Wachovia bank was investigated over suspicious money transfers from Mexico, the amount involved over a five-year period was $378.4 billion – equivalent to one-third of Mexico’s gross national product.

Under a deferred prosecution agreement, Wachovia only had to pay a fine of $160 million. No one was charged with wrongdoing and the case never went to court.

Read the rest at Irish Times

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!