Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Tuesday approved the extradition to the U.S. of Margarita Pabon, former legal advisor to pyramid scheme DMG, on charges related to the business’ money laundering activities.
The lawyer was one of the directors of the business, and is currently serving a four year sentence in Colombia for the crime of enriching herself through illegal means.
The charges Pabon faces in the United States relate to the laundering of money earned through drug trafficking.
Pabon has protested her extradition to the United States, saying last month that she has cooperated fully with Colombian authorities in exchange for a lesser sentence.
She also complained that fellow DMG director Daniel Angel Rueda was requested for extradition by the U.S. on exactly the same charges, but the Colombian government refused that request.
According to Colombian authorities, DMG was a pyramid scheme that laundered money for local drug lords. DMG founder David Murcia has always defended his business as legitimate, and claims that he is being persecuted in order to defend the interests of established Colombian banks.
Murcia has reportedly become a business guru for fellow inmates in his U.S. prison.
Hundreds of thousands of Colombian lost their savings when police shut down all activities of the company late 2008. Most of the money that had been “invested” in DMG is still missing.
