CQB pleads guilty to Smuggling Guns and Coke

http://law.du.edu/documents/corpora...e-governance/in-re-chiquita-third-amended.pdf

Hi, anyone can search "guilty" and see that on 6/6/2008 Chiquita Brands International plead guilty specifically to importing 3,000 AK-47's, 5 million rounds of Ammunition, and some other cocaine smuggling charges through a subsidiary known as Banadex.

I thought I'd put this out there, but given that theres some net asset value left on the balance sheet, I'd bet money like going short chiquita that some sort of reward estimated at 780 million in the documents to the victims will come about. They're already bankrupt, though, so I believe they're purposely taking a big bath to avoid this payout.

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856. On March 19, 2007, CHIQUITA pled guilty in U.S. District Court for the
District of Colombia to one count of engaging in transactions with a specially designated
global terrorist. The company’s sentence will include a $25 million criminal fine, the
requirement to implement and maintain an effective compliance and ethics program, and
five years’ probation.
857. According to the sentencing memorandum of the United States
Government in the aforementioned case, CHIQUITA’S payments “fueled violence” and
“paid for weapons and ammunition to kill innocent people”.
The Illegal Smuggling of Arms by CHIQUITA/BANADEX to the AUC
858. In 2001, CHIQUITA facilitated the clandestine and illegal transfer of arms
and ammunition from Nicaragua to the AUC.
859. The Nicaraguan National Police provided 3,000 AK-47 assault rifles and
5 million rounds of ammunition to a private Guatamalan arms dealership, Grupo de
Representaciones Internationales S.A. (“GIR S.A.”), in exchange for weapons more
suited to police work. GIR S.A., in turn, arranged to sell the AK-47’s and ammunition
for $575,000 to Shimon Yelinek, an arms merchant based in Panama. In November
2001, Yelinek loaded the arms onto a Panamanian-registered ship called the
Case 0:08-md-01916-KAM Document 72 Entered on FLSD Docket 06/06/2008 Page 195 of 220
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“OTTERLOO” with Panama as its declared destination, but the ship instead went to
Turbo, Colombia.
860. CHIQUITA, through Banadex, operated a private port facility at the
Colombian municipality of Turbo, used for the transport of bananas and other cargo. The
arms ship docked at the CHIQUITA port, and Banadex employees unloaded the 3,000
assault rifles and 5 million rounds of ammunition. These arms and ammunition were
then transferred to the AUC.
861. The arms and ammunition were off-loaded at sea from the Otterloo onto
barges owned and operated by Banadex and brought to Chiquita’s private warehouse
facility. The arms and ammunition were unloaded by Banadex employees and stored in
Banedex private warehouse for a period of time. It was then loaded onto trucks and
delivered to AUC paramilitaries.
862. Bills of lading and other shipping documents relating to the Otterloo’s
cargo indicate that the recipient of the goods was C.I. Banadex S.A. and Inv. Banoly,
Ltda.
863. Luis Anibal Chaverra Arboleda, an employee of Banadex S.A. and other
agents/employees of Banadex, supervised the fictitious inspection of the containers
containing weapons and ammunition and arranged for the loading of the weapons and
ammunition onto trucks destined for AUC paramilitaries under circumstances evincing
knowledge and intent of aiding and abetting the paramilitaries.
864. According to official documents of the Fiscalia 41 of Medellin dated
November 7, 2002, the employees of Banadex were in charge of the process of
unloading, storing, lifting and loading the guns and ammunition onto trucks, and that
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Banadex was in charge of the shipment, and provided their personnel, warehouses and
equipment for the purpose of receiving and transferring the arms and ammunition to the
AUC, and that the unloading and storage was done by a private company, CI Banadex,
which had total management, mobilization and control of the port and the containers
containing the arms and ammunition.
865. On information and belief, CHIQUITA facilitated at least four other arms
shipments to the AUC. In an interview with the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, AUC
leader Carlos Castano subsequently boasted, “This is the greatest achievement by the
AUC so far. Through Central America, five shipments, 13 thousand rifles.”
866. On information and belief, CHIQUITA was aware of the use of its
facilities for the illegal transshipment of arms to the AUC, and intended to provide such
support and assistance to the AUC.
867. The arms and munitions that came into Colombia through Chiquita’s
private port at Turbo were used to commit massacres, mass murders, torture and
intimidation, including but not limited to the murders of the plaintiffs’ decedents.
868. The arms and munitions that came into Colombia through Chiquita’s
private port at Turbo were used to commit massacres, mass murders, torture and
intimidation, and were used to wage war against left wing guerillas, in the course of
which the war crimes against the plaintiffs were committed.
869. On information and belief, CHIQUITA also assisted the AUC by allowing
the use of its private port facilities not only for the illegal importation of arms, but also
for the illegal exportation of large amounts of illegal drugs, especially cocaine. The drug
trade was a major source of income for the AUC. CHIQUITA intentionally and
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knowingly allowed use of its port and banana transportation boats for this purpose.
CHIQUITA also transported illegal drugs in trucks and other vehicles acquired, owned
and operated by it for the use in its conspiracy with the AUC.
870. Drug enforcement agents and customs officials in Belgium and the United
Kingdom found more than a ton of almost pure cocaine hidden in at least seven Chiquita
ships in 1997, all or which was illegally exported through Chiquita’s private port facility
at Santa Marta, Colombia. The seized cocaine was worth approximately $33 million in
pure form and more than $100 million if sold on the streets according to United States
DEA sources. On or about October 31, 1997, officials in Belgium seized more than 500
kilos of cocaine from the ship “Chiquita Bremen”. The cocaine had a street value of
approximately $50 million.
871. The AUC’s access to Chiquita’s private port at Turbo as well as access to
freighters owned, operated and/or controlled by Chiquita, materially and substantially
aided the AUC to export drugs from which it derived substantial and material revenue to
support its operations and to import weapons as aforesaid.
AS AND FOR A FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION
ENGAGING IN TERRORISM AND/OR PROVIDING
MATERIAL SUPPORT TO A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION
872. Plaintiffs repeat and reallege all of the previous allegations of the
complaint with the same force and effect as if fully set forth again at length.
873. The AUC was and is a global terrorist organization, having been so
designated by the U.S. State Department, as hereinabove alleged.
874. That heretofore and at the time of the occurrences herein, the AUC was
engaged in terrorism in violation of the law of nations and of individual countries and
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states in that inter alia it engaged in violent acts, or acts dangerous to human life that
were intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, and/or to influence the policy
of a government by intimidation or coercion; and/or to affect the conduct of a
government by mass destruction, assassination, kidnapping or hostage taking, as defined
by 31 CFR § 594.311 and Chapter 113B of Part I of Title 18 of the United States Code;
engaged in criminal acts intended and/or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds
of particular persons or a group of persons or the general public as defined in the League
of Nations Convention (1937) and the General Assembly Resolution 51/210 (1999)
wherein such acts are strongly condemned; and/or engaged in crimes against a civilian
population intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants
with the purpose of intimidating a population in violation of UN Resolution May 17,
2005 and UN General Assembly Resolution 49/60 of December 9, 1994 adopting the
Declaration of Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism and all other citations
therein condemning terrorism which are hereby incorporated by reference; and UN
General Assembly Resolution 42/159 (adopted December 7, 1987) and other
international laws and jus cogens as set forth herein and elsewhere.
875. That terrorism is a violation of the law of nations.
876. That conspiring with and aiding, abetting, facilitating, soliciting and
giving material aid to a terrorist organization is a violation of the law of nations.
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