US Kingpin Act-designated César Emilio Peralta, who is in prison in Colombia awaiting extradition to the United States, asks Dominican officials to release his spouse Marisol Franco from jail because “she has nothing to do with his business.”
Peralta, also known as Cesar el Abusador, was arrested in Colombia late last year in a joint Colombia-US operation. For years he operated his businesses freely in the Dominican Republic.
The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on 20 August 2019 identified Cesar Emilio Peralta and the Peralta Drug Trafficking Organization (Peralta DTO) as significant foreign narcotics traffickers under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). OFAC also designated six entities in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, including several nightclubs owned or controlled by Cesar Emilio Peralta.
In an interview reported in El Caribe with Carol Pérez, a Dominican journalist based in Colombia, Peralta spoke of his ties with a high up government officer and said he could use all his resources to get Franco released, . Perez said Peralta told her during the jail interview that he is not concerned about his own case. He said he would accept the extradition of Franco to the United States.
Peralta denied being the owner of more than 40 discotheques that were closed by the Attorney General Office shortly after the United States government-designated Peralta. As reported, Peralta says he only organized parties at Aqua Club, La Kuora, Flow and VIP Room.
Last Thursday, 2 January 2020, Marisol Franco was taken to the Fourth District Court of the National District, where she would be subject to a mandatory review of the pre-trial custody, but this was not possible. The court postponed the review until the 27th of this month. Franco is kept at the Najayo Women’s Jail.
Read more:
El Caribe
US Embassy
7 January 2020