MIAMI, (Reuters) – A judge in Miami ordered a Honduran soccer club president and member of one of the Honduras’ wealthiest and most politically connected families transferred to New York yesterday to face drug money laundering charges.
Yankel Rosenthal, 46, was charged by U.S. authorities in New York last Wednesday, along with two other family members, with a scheme to launder drug trafficking and foreign bribery proceeds through U.S. accounts over the past decade.
The Rosenthal family deny the allegations.
Shackled and wearing a khaki shirt and pants, Rosenthal said nothing in a brief hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin G Torres.
Also charged in the case are his uncle Jaime Rosenthal, 79, who unsuccessfully tried to be a presidential candidate for Honduras’ center-right Liberal party; Yani Rosenthal, 50, a former cabinet member and Jaime’s son; and Andres Acosta Garcia, 40, a Grupo Continental lawyer.
On Sunday, Honduras’ banking regulator said it will take control of Banco Continental and force its liquidation.
Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department classified seven businesses linked to the Rosenthals, as “specially designated narcotics traffickers,” which allows for the freezing of assets under U.S. control.
