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U.S. Drops Money Laundering Case Against Miami Lawyer

By Brian Monroe

The U.S. Justice Department dropped its controversial money-laundering case Wednesday against a prominent Miami lawyer who had vetted legal fees for a second attorney defending a Colombian drug lord. Federal authorities indicted Benedict Kuehne in February 2008 after he audited $5.2 million in payments from Colombian cocaine lord Fabio Ochoa to his defense attorney, Roy Black, during a drug trafficking case that took place between 2001 and 2003. Ochoa was convicted in May 2003 and later sentenced to 30 years in prison. Prosecutors said that Kuehne knew Ochoa's assets were tainted, took them anyway and used what's called the "black...

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