International MLM Huckster Who Laundered Money For Colombian Narcotics Operation Sentenced To 9 Years In U.S. Prison; David Murcia Also Faces 30-Year Term Behind Bars In South America Upon Release

David Murcia in 2010.

David Eduardo Helmut Murcia Guzman (David Murcia), the MLM huckster whose pyramid scheme targeted the poor in Latin America and laundered money for a Colombian narcotics operation, has been sentenced to nine years in a U.S. federal prison.

Murcia, 30, also faces a 30-year prison sentence in Colombia after his release from a U.S. jail.

“Murcia Guzman wove an intricate web of deception across continents to disguise his dirty drug money and support his lavish lifestyle,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York. “But his web has been untangled and his lifestyle dramatically curtailed by this sentence.”

Murcia was at the helm of a Colombian MLM scheme known as D.M.G. Group, which collapsed in 2008 after luring customers by offering prepaid debit cards that purportedly would elevate their standard of living. Along with five co-conspirators, Murcia laundered drug money through the MLM company and other entities, prosecutors said.

In January 2010, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) brought Murcia from Colombia to the United States to face trial. Murcia, wearing a bulletproof jacket, was whisked under heavy guard from his prison cell in Bogota to a waiting DEA aircraft.

Although it is common for online criminals to promote fraud schemes by saying the operations are outside the reach of U.S. regulators and law enforcement, such claims are a myth.

Finding the United States an unfriendly environment, the so called autosurf and HYIP “industries” increasingly are relying on offshore money-exchange businesses and debit cards to entice participants, sometimes advising them that the offshore locations are “safe” havens that “shelter” U.S. residents from regulators and law-enforcement agencies.