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Black Market Peso Exchange Research (Draft)
The Columbia Black Market Peso Exchange
CRMJ_364_DA: Money Laundering

Terri L. Quinn-Taylor

The Columbian Black Market Peso Exchange
Not many people consider the value of the Peso. In fact, when any value is usually given to the Peso, it is usually considered worthless in the mouths of many. Many times, it is give as a gift by someone who has visited Mexico, or is regarded as a “nifty” item presented at “show and tell.” To others, however, it has become a very creative and profitable way to make “dirty” money into “clean “money. In other words, the Colombian Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE) is a very creative and effective money laundering method. According to Raymond Kelly, U.S. Customs Service Commissioner, the BMPE is “perhaps the largest, most insidious money-laundering system in the Western Hemisphere” (Zill and Bergman). There are thirteen (13) groups in Colombia alone so far and more are constantly being created faster than they taken down. While that does not sound like much; in dollars, $500 million has been intercepted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in one year alone. This scheme has been popular since the early 1990’s.
What is interesting is one of the reasons that laundering money became important in the drug trade was drug traffickers did not anticipate the amount of money they would make selling drugs. The more money they would make the more time and effort they spent in counting this money and more law enforcement efforts were created in curtailing this illegal activity. Criminals ended up with copious amounts of money with no way of using this money. Increased border controls, international and intranational collaboration and new laws made the movement of money required during money laundering very risky. The Colombian Black Market Peso Exchange all but eliminated the risks associated with the “layering” stage of the money laundering process. The drugs would still get smuggled across the borders; however, the money is


Cited: Drug Enforcement Agency. "News from DEA, News Releases, 06/14/05." News from DEA, News Releases, 06/14/05. 14 June 2005. 19 Apr. 2014 <http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr061405p.html>. "Five convicted in relation to $20-plus million ‘Black Market Peso exchange’ scheme." Www.cypresscreekmirror.com. 13 Feb. 2013. 16 Apr. 2014 <http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/cypresscreek/news/five-convicted-in-relation-to--plus-million-black-market/article_65ca4a2c-760e-11e2-ad26-001a4bcf887a.html>. Layton, Julia. "HowStuffWorks "Money-laundering Methods"" HowStuffWorks. 16 Apr. 2014 <http://money.howstuffworks.com/money-laundering2.htm>. Robinson, Jeffrey. "THE BLACK MARKET PESO EXCHANGE -." The Black Market Peso Exchange. 14 Apr. 2012. WordPress. 16 Apr. 2014 <http://www.jeffreyrobinson.com/blog/?p=62>. Sloan, James F. "Black Market Peso Exchange Update." Black Market Peso Exchange Update. June 1999. United States Department of the Treasury. 16 Apr. 2014 <http://www.fincen.gov/news_room/rp/advisory/html/advis12.html>. The Washington Times. "36 arrested in drug-money laundering probe." 14 June 2005. The Washington Times. 16 Apr. 2014 <http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2005/jun/14/20050614-110418-8271r/>. Weitz, Evan, and Claiborne (Clay) W. Porter. "Understanding and Detecting the Black Market Peso Exchange." Money Laundering and Forfeiture 61 (2013): 12-18. United States Department of Justice Executive Office for United States Attorneys, Washington, D.C. 20530. 16 Apr. 2014 <http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usab6105.pdf>. Zill, Oriana, and Lowell Bergman. "The Black Peso Money Laundering System." PBS. PBS. 19 Apr. 2014 <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/blackpeso.html>.
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