Perfume kingpin Vikram Datta has been sentenced to twenty years in prison after a federal jury in New York, NY convicted him of laundering nearly $20 million for the Sinaloa cartel as reported by Robert Gearty for the Daily News.
Datta laundered the drug money through a black market peso exchange as reported by Julian Aguilar for The Texas Tribune:
The peso exchange is used when illegal drugs are sold in the United States, and the proceeds, in American dollars, are smuggled back into Mexico or Colombia, where they are exchanged for pesos at a discounted rate.
Peso-exchange businesses then use the dollars to buy products in the United States — in Datta's case, millions of dollars worth of perfume — and have them shipped to purchasers in Mexico or Colombia, where they are sold, earning additional revenue for the criminals involved.
A year in prison for every $1 million laundered? That sounds about right. Plus the judge ordered Datta to forfeit his property and $40 million.
Previous coverage:
"In Laredo, Was a Criminal Enterprise Bathed in Sweet Perfume?" by Julian Aguilar for The Texas Tribune
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