The U.S. Department of Justice said the defendants were charged with conspiring to impede an investigation into assets owned by brothers Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, sentenced in Miami in 2006 to 30 years in prison on trafficking charges.
The defendants, all relatives of the brothers, were also charged with making false statements.
In return for an agreement to forfeit $2.1 billion in illegal profits, the U.S. government had agreed not to charge six of the brothers’ relatives with money laundering and obstructing justice.
The government also agreed to lift financial sanctions against 28 family members if they forfeited tainted assets, including bank accounts, businesses and luxury homes.
