A Colombian entrepreneur, Neder Valencia Julio, has been convicted by a federal jury in the Southern District of Florida for his involvement in a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of cocaine. The jury found him guilty of participating in a multi-year scheme to distribute thousands of kilograms of cocaine, aware that it would be unlawfully imported into the United States.
Valencia owned several businesses along Colombia's Caribbean coast, including a hotel and a boat transport company. These businesses were located in areas controlled by the Clan del Golfo (CDG), a Colombian paramilitary group and drug trafficking cartel. The CDG trafficked its own cocaine and also charged other groups for moving drugs through their territory.
In May 2018, Valencia was involved in organizing a shipment of 1,050 kilograms of CDG cocaine using one of his speedboats. A Colombian military plane tracked this boat as it moved north along a known drug corridor. The Servicio Nacional Aeronaval de Panamá (SENAN) pursued the speedboat when it entered Panama's waters. Although the crew escaped after discarding their cargo overboard, SENAN recovered 626 kilograms of bundled cocaine.
The evidence presented at trial showed that Valencia had been coordinating logistics and transportation for numerous cocaine shipments since at least 2011. He participated in planning meetings with CDG leadership and provided boats for significant shipments to Honduras between 2012 and 2018.
Valencia was arrested in Colombia in 2021 and extradited to the United States. Cocaine bricks linked to the May 2018 seizure bore branded stamps associated with the CDG cartel; similar markings were found on bricks seized in U.S. territories from 2017 to 2020.
U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal presided over Valencia's trial, where he faces up to life imprisonment with sentencing scheduled for September 23, 2025.
U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne announced the verdict alongside DEA Special Agent Deanne Reuter from Miami Field Division. The case was investigated by DEA with assistance from Colombian and Panamanian authorities, as well as various U.S agencies.
Assistant U.S Attorneys Marc Chattah and Sterling M Paulson are prosecuting this case.
Related court documents can be accessed on the Southern District of Florida's website or PACER under case number 21-CR-20273-AHS.
