WASHINGTON D.C.
A Colombian national plead guilty Friday in connection with his role in a bribery scheme that resulted in the dismissal of a drug trafficking indictment filed against a Colombia-based cocaine trafficker from the Cali Cartel, according to officials.
According to the plea agreement, Juan Carlos Velasco Cano, 49, acted as an intermediary between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE; Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Christopher V. Ciccione II, 52, of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and Colombian national Jose Bayron Piedrahita Ceballos, 58, to use Ciccione’s official position to cause a drug trafficking indictment against Piedrahita to be dismissed and to obtain official authorization for Piedrahita to enter the United States.
Velasco admitted that Piedrahita gave Ciccione approximately $20,000 in cash, dinner, drinks and prostitution during an extended hotel stay in Bogota, Colombia in exchange for Ciccione using his official position to obtain the dismissal of the indictment against Piedrahita, according to authorities.
In furtherance of the scheme, Velasco arranged for a meeting of the conspirators in Bogota, Colombia; facilitated communications between Piedrahita and Ciccione; and received confidential law enforcement information from Ciccione about himself and others, including the names of a confidential source and cooperating witnesses.
Velasco will be sentenced on Jan. 17, 2018 before U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. of Florida. Ciccione is pending trial and Piedrahita is currently incarcerated in the Republic of Colombia.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Piedrahita as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act on May 3, 2016.