More than $40 million worth of gold, silver and other jewelry forfeited in an international money laundering investigation, which was seized as the result of an investigation that identified two companies in the Colon Free Zone in Colon, Panama, that were responsible for laundering narcotics proceeds from the United States, has arrived in Austin, Texas.

During the course of the investigation, Yardena Hebroni and Eliahu Mizrahi were identified as major money launderers based in Panama. Hebroni and Mizrahi used a wholesale jewelry business, Speed Joyeros S.A., and a related company identified as Argento Vivo S.A., to facilitate their illegal money laundering activities. Based on a joint investigation conducted with the government of Panama, Speed Joyeros S.A., Argento Vivo S.A., Hebroni and Mizrahi were charged with laundering millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds through their companies in Panama.

Hebroni and Mizrahi operated and built Speed Joyeros S.A. and Argento Vivo S.A., which together did more than $100 million in business annually, knowing that the primarily Colombian-based customers were laundering millions of dollars in drug money from the United States through bulk purchases of jewelry.

Hebroni and both companies pleaded guilty to money laundering in the Eastern District of New York. Mizrahi, who had been a fugitive, later pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentenced in February 2008.

In May 2006, a U.S. District Court Judge signed a final order of forfeiture directing that the government of Panama transfer custody of the assets seized in Panama to the government of the United States. The assets transferred to the United States include approximately 468 boxes of gold and silver jewelry, as well as gemstones and watches, weighing ten tons, seized from Speed Joyeros S.A. and Argento Vivo S.A.

The forfeited assets will be liquidated, with the final proceeds from those sales placed into the Department of Justice’s Assets Forfeiture Fund, which can be used to enhance future criminal investigations, recognize the critical assistance of our foreign law enforcement counterparts and support other law enforcement initiatives.

"This forfeiture of more than $40 million in jewelry should remind criminals around the globe that they will be found, prosecuted and stripped of assets that are not theirs to keep," said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division. "With increased international cooperation, we are steadfastly working to forfeit money launderers’ dirty assets and proving that, in fact, crime doesn’t pay."