A Swedish man known as “El Sirencio” has been accused of carrying out a global scam that sold Pablo Escobar branded products, including mobile phones, flames and cash, but has never delivered because it didn’t exist.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 31-year-old Olaf Kiroz Gustafson was handed over from Spain to Los Angeles and was arrested Friday on 115 count federal charges claiming money laundering, wire fraud and mail fraud.
He pleaded not guilty.
Gustafsson has been accused of running a business called Escobar Inc., a Puerto Rican registered corporation that retained the persona and heritage rights of the late Colombian drug Lord Pablo Escobar.
Escobor was the leader of the Medellin Cartel and became one of the most powerful and violent drug lords in history in the 1980s.
Gustafsson will use these rights to sell a wide range of Escobar branded products from 2019 to 2023, often copying and overturning prices for other similar products sold online, prosecutors argue.
He touted the cash on Escobar FlameThrower, Escobar Fold Phone, Escobar Gold 11 Pro Phone and Escobar cash as “physical cryptocurrency.” None of these products existed, prosecutors argued.
To attract customer interest for non-existent Escobar Inc. products, he allegedly sent an online technology reviewer a Samsung Galaxy Fold phone wrapped in gold leaf. The goal was to tempt customers to order the product after reading the reviews.
Gustafsson accepted payments using processors such as PayPal, Stripe and Coinbase. However, instead of sending the purchased product to the customer, the prosecutor claims to mail its “certificate of ownership,” books, or other Escobar Inc. promotional materials instead.
He later introduced the payment processor to this mailing history, dodging requests for refunds from upset customers around the world, prosecutors said. Several prosecutors say they have been victims of fraud.
Gustafsson has been accused of using bank accounts in the United States, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates to hide and disguise his activities.
According to a report from Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, he was arrested in December 2023 when Spanish police and US Internal Revenue Agent attacked his home in Costa del Sol, Spain. He then tried to avoid extradition by seeking asylum in Spain, but his efforts failed, the paper reported.
In an interview with a Swedish paper, he criticized his home country for not protecting him from extradition.
Gustafsson was charged with 25 counts of 25 counts engaged in money laundering of 41 counts, international money laundering of 35 counts and financial transactions on property derived from designated illegal activities.
He maintains federal custody and is scheduled to go to trial on May 20th.
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