QCOSTARICA — “Caso Madre Patria” is the code name for the almost two years of judicial investigations that included surveillance, telephone interventions and document seizures, among other resources, that the criminal group of the so-called Madre Patria case would have used in sales and sale simulations of high-end vehicles to launder bitcoins.
According to the information, in a single day, this criminal group moved 12 million euros in cryptocurrencies. Such was the amount of money they moved that they were considering buying a bank in Mexico, according to the intercepted telephone conversations.
“Through the sale of high-end vehicles, they managed to place the bitcoins reported by the National Police of Spain, reporting values in public deeds that were extremely lower than the real value of the vehicles, thus hiding the amount of real money that was supplied by those investigated in the purchase of the automobiles, thereby avoiding the justification of the origin of the funds, achieving its initial objective of placing the cryptocurrencies.”
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Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) investigators say that in some cases “the cycle of vehicle transfers was observed increasing their values progressively” which allowed the criminal group to justify; with the presentation of deed testimonies for the sales, millionaire income in the national financial systems (integration), which were initially acquired with cryptocurrencies of obscure origin.”
To do this, the group was using a business specialized in selling and importing luxury, classic, and sports cars from Europe and the United States, located in Escazú.
“The dealership’s customer portfolio is intended for a group of people with a high economic level who are looking to acquire exclusive vehicles, and they are people with knowledge in motorsports, since they have significant characteristics different from a conventional vehicle that considerably increase the value of the vehicle market,” the investigators pointed out.
According to the judicial agents, several transactions were shown for each car. Initially, sales appeared at extremely low prices. A BMW for ¢800,000 colones (US$1,500 at today’s exchange rate) a collector car for ¢4 million colones. However, later operations were recorded, even between companies of the same people involved, until reaching a bona fide buyer.
“The vehicle dealership, in collaboration with the notary public, assisted in the placement of the cryptocurrencies reported by the Spanish National Police materialized in movable property, omitting the actual payment method; payment in cryptocurrencies; and interposing a ridiculous sale price in terms of its real value, with the sole objective of avoiding the justification of the funds,” says part of the judicial file 22-005018-0042-PE.
The criminal organization
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According to the judicial investigation that has been taking place since 2022, the main leaders of this criminal group are two Spanish citizens with the surnames Gómez González and León Muñoz, as well as two brothers with the surnames Chaves Arias.
They would have “three front men or people in charge of lending their names to legitimize capital through companies, bank accounts and rights over assets, these are three women with the surnames García Núñez, Jiménez Arias and Solano Acosta. All of them are romantic partners of the ringleaders.
At a lower level – says the OIJ – a man with the last name Herrera González, a resident of Heredia, was identified and who would have a position of trust in the structure as in charge of the administration of public transportation routes and the sale of buses to third parties. This business also includes a 22-year-old girl with the last name Herrera Vega and daughter of Herrera González. This woman would also operate as a frontman in public transport companies and was in charge of the companies’ finances.
According to investigators, this public transportation business also allowed them to “mix the money obtained illicitly and give it the appearance of being legal.”
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They also identify two men, Costa Ricans with the last names Barrientos Campos and Fernández Gustavino, specialists in computer systems and who were in charge of applying their knowledge to convert money from official currency to cryptocurrencies and thus mix and hide their origin.
There is another man, brother of one of the computer scientists named Barrientos Campos, who appears as a frontman for real estate.
In the legal part, a lawyer named Martínez Parada is identified who “actively participates with the organization” and from which he receives a high percentage of the profits he obtains from making false appearances.” The lawyer is alleged to have exercised control over another group of professionals who worked for a legal firm, their last names: Fernández, Berrocal, Seeman, Rojas and Leiva.
The file says that Martínez Parada also provided the leaders of the “criminal organization” with the contact of two Colombians with the surnames Peláez Botero and Trujillo Restrepo who “help finance the criminal group by granting them millionaire loans on properties coming from fraud registration, with full knowledge of the illicit origin of how said real estate was obtained.”
In the organization there is another lawyer with the surname Loaiza Bolandi who actively participated with the organization and used the notaries González Jiménez, Mora Bonilla, González Pinto, Garita Quirós, Prendas Matarrita, Castro Segura and a collaborator who would present false deeds with the surname Garita Castro.
Two more people with the surname Rodríguez Hidalgo and a woman Arrieta Solano allegedly worked with Loaiza Bolandi, who were in charge of searching for “properties to steal and intermediaries for sale to bona fide buyers.”
The group allegedly stole nearly 300 properties from foreigners with land ownership in Costa Rica, but not living in the country. The gang allegedly assessed large pieces of land owned by people residing in foreign countries, and issued false transfer documents for that land.
In addition to the detained, there is a group of 8 people who are wanted by the OIJ, some are outside the country and the authorities do not rule out resorting to Interpol to return them to the country.
Some 500 OIJ agents took part in the investigation which included in 47 raids across the country, in the provinces of Alajuela, Heredia, Cartago, San José and Puntarenas.
In Court on Monday, July 1, the Fiscalia (Prosecutor’s Office) is asking for up to one year preventive detention (remand) for the accused in the case.
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