HSI delivers $2 million check to the Bailiwick of Jersey for assistance in drug trafficking case
LONDON — The U.S. government has delivered a check to the Bailiwick of Jersey, a United Kingdom Crown Dependency, for $2 million. The check was turned over to the attorney general for Jersey Monday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) London attaché.
The payment recognizes the law enforcement assistance and support that Jersey provided the U.S. government beginning in 2004 when U.S. authorities identified over $8 million believed to be the proceeds of a Colombian drug trafficking cartel in a bank account at BBVA Privanza Bank in Jersey.
U.S. authorities had tracked these funds through various jurisdictions, and attempts to freeze them as they passed through the Cayman Islands and Switzerland had been unsuccessful. In April 2004, the Jersey Law Officers' Department succeeded in obtaining a "freezing order."
More than $8 million was forfeited under a settlement agreement between the account holder and U.S. authorities.
"I am pleased to share the forfeited proceeds of an illicit enterprise with the Bailiwick of Jersey for their efforts in this investigation," said Matthew J. Etre, HSI London attaché. "With equitable asset sharing like this, law enforcement agencies on both sides of the Atlantic are turning the tables on the bad guys. We simply take their illegal profits and invest them in law enforcement efforts. On behalf of HSI and the U.S. government, I look forward to continuing our strong partnership with the Bailiwick of Jersey – along with our other law enforcement partners throughout the world – in disrupting and dismantling criminal organizations that support drug trafficking."
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