United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy | U.S. Department of Justice
A Lebanese man, Andres Rached Farah, has been sentenced to 52 months in prison for his involvement in an international money laundering conspiracy. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns after Farah pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering conspiracy and conducting substantive money laundering transactions.
Farah, a Lebanese citizen residing in Colombia, was charged alongside 19 others in a 50-count indictment in March 2022. He was arrested in Colombia the following month and extradited to the United States in September 2023.
The investigation into the money laundering organization began in 2016 and continued until 2022. Law enforcement focused on an organization based primarily in Barranquilla, Colombia. An undercover agent posed as an international money launderer to infiltrate the group, offering services to pick up bulk cash globally, launder it through U.S.-based accounts, and send it back to Colombia.
The funds were transferred either via the Black Market Peso Exchange or through business accounts designed to conceal their illegal origins. Throughout the operation, members of the organization arranged meetings with the undercover agent for cash collection worldwide. Facilitators like Farah helped manage payouts of laundered proceeds in Colombia for drug suppliers' benefit. Farah was responsible for laundering at least $591,000 from drug sales.
Farah is one of nine defendants sentenced so far; four others have pleaded guilty and await sentencing. Two additional defendants intend to plead guilty while proceedings continue against remaining defendants.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Joshua R. Levy along with Stephen Belleau from the Drug Enforcement Administration's New England Field Division and Jonathan Wlodyka from the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation unit in Boston. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and other agencies played key roles in securing Farah's arrest and extradition.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jared C. Dolan and Alathea E. Porter are prosecuting this case as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation aimed at dismantling high-level criminal organizations threatening U.S security.
Details within charging documents remain allegations until proven beyond reasonable doubt; remaining defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
