David Murcia, director of Colombian pyramid scheme DMG, pleaded guilty to money laundering charges before a New York court, his attorney said Wednesday.
In an interview with Caracol Radio, Murcia’s attorney Robert Abreu said that his client prefers to accept the charges, spend five years in an American jail and return to Colombia to face justice than to risk a U.S. jail sentence of 20 years.
Abreu told the radio station that Murcia received the help of the former director of the Colombian tax office to buy property in Miami.
The attorney said he and Murcia are angry that former tax chief Carlos Espinoza is not on trial. “As a lawyer I can not understand why this man isn’t standing here next to Murcia,” he told Caracol. “This is something the American justice will have to explain to David and me.”
DMG was dismantled in 2008 after accusations the company was a pyramid scheme and laundering money for drug trafficking organizations. When still in Colombia, Murcia repeatedly asked to be extradited, saying he would not be receiving a fair trial in his home country.