An Argentine judge has sent the widow and son of deceased Colombian drug trafficker Pablo Escobar Gaviria, as well as former Colombian footballer Mauricio 'Chicho' Serna, to trial in a case investigating million-dollar money laundering operations involving international drug trafficking.

According to sources from the Public Prosecutor's Office, María Isabel Santos Caballero, Juan Sebastián Marroquín, and former Colombian national team player and Boca Juniors club player are among the nine defendants who will stand trial, as ordered by Federal Court 3 in the city of Morón, directed by Judge Néstor Barral.

The investigation aims to establish that they, along with businessman Mateo Corvo, made an "essential" contribution to injecting funds into Argentina from drug trafficker José Bayron Piedrahita Ceballos, who is linked to the leader of the Medellín Cartel.

The indictment was requested by the Public Prosecutor's Office in August 2019.

Imputed charges

The Public Prosecutor's Office accuses Piedrahita Ceballos and Corvo, among others, of being part of an international criminal organization that operated in Argentina from "at least 2008" until September 2017, "dedicated to circulating in the local financial system assets resulting from illicit drug trafficking operations" committed in Colombia and the United States, "with the aim of giving them a legal appearance".

Escobar's widow and son, who live in Argentina, are accused of having made an "essential contribution to the fulfillment of the criminal objectives of the aforementioned illicit structure," as they allegedly "introduced and united" Piedrahita Ceballos' and Corvo's interests in 2007.

In June 2018, when the judicial indictments became known, the Public Prosecutor's Office stated that there is documentation proving that Marroquín admitted, along with his mother, to having introduced Piedrahita Ceballos as an investor in the projects carried out by Corvo, who acknowledged granting a 4.5% commission to the mother and son based on the total investment made.

Barral believes that Escobar's widow and son "made a contribution of an essential nature to the fulfillment of the criminal objectives" of the Colombian and "were aware of Corvo's urgent need to obtain investors to finance his real estate projects".

"Chicho" Serna is accused of having given Piedrahita Ceballos, "at a ridiculously low and fictitious price," the possessory rights to a property located in a place called "El Campito" and two lots in the "Barrio Terravista S.A.".

Information from the United States

Piedrahita Ceballos, deported to his country from the United States last November, where he was imprisoned for several months, is listed by the U.S. Department of Justice as a patron of Colombian narcocriminal organizations and for having collaborated with a network linked to the Medellín and Sinaloa cartels and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

The case in Argentina began as a result of preliminary investigations conducted by the Narcocriminality Prosecutor's Office, based on information sent by the United States, which pointed to connections between the Colombian and individuals and legal entities in the South American country. EFE