Santo Domingo.- The National District First Collegiate Court on Monday afternoon  sentenced seven of the eight charged with laundering money for Puerto Rican kingpin Jose Figueroa Agosto’s drug trafficking network to 5, 12 and 15 years in prison, and acquitted Adolphina (Dolphy) Peláez on lack of evidence.

The Figueroa case as is widely known is considered the biggest money laundering network ever to operate in the Dominican Republic, whose assets in cash, properties and real estate are estimated at more than US$200.0 million.

The court found Mary Peláez, Sammy Dauhajre, Ricardo Ivanovich Smester and Juan Jose Fernandez Ibarra guilty of money laundering, and sent them to spend 15 years in prison.

Also found guilty was Eddy Brito, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined the equivalent of several minimum wages.

Figueroa’s paramour Sobeida Felix was sentenced to five years in prison as part of a plea deal, and the same sentence for Madeline Bernard, widow of colonel Jose Amado Gonzalez, gunned down Christmas eve 2008 in front of their residence. Bernard will be allowed house arrest until she recovers from the injuries sustained in the attack that killed her husband.

Confiscations

The Judges Gissel Méndez, Yulí Tamariz and Tania Yunen also ordered the confiscation of two houses in Arroyo Hondo, apartments Torre Alba in Ocean One in Puerto Plata, Torre Serena on Anacaona avenue, two in Torre Bolívar, on Bolívar avenue, two in the Alco Paradisso tower, a lot in Higuey, among others.

Also confiscated were a white Ferrari, a black Porsche, a white Ford Ranger, two Jeep Grand Cherokee black, a black Mercedes 500, a Mazda X7, 2 Range Rovers, a Toyota SUV, close to US$6.0 million, and at least 12 luxury watches.

Ex US Ambassador link

Cesar Matos, the attorney of Juan José Fernandez Ibarra, said one of the reasons for the guilty verdict against his client was the fact that he mentioned former U.S. ambassador Hans Hertell in the case, and called the former diplomat and the Puerto Rican kingpin good “friends.”