Pubdate: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 Source: Miami Herald (FL) Copyright: 2001 The Miami Herald Contact: One Herald Plaza, Miami FL 33132-1693 Fax: (305) 376-8950 Website: http://www.herald.com/ Forum: http://krwebx.infi.net/webxmulti/cgi-bin/WebX?mherald Author: Catherine Wilson ARUBAN BUSINESSMAN PLEADS GUILTY IN MIAMI LAUNDERING CASE MIAMI - An Aruban businessman accused of climbing to the heights of the drug-money laundering world has reached a plea bargain calling for an 11-year prison term instead of risking a life sentence at trial. Randolph Habibe, who was extradited after losing a five-year legal battle, acknowledged laundering $11 million in drug profits in his guilty plea Thursday to racketeering conspiracy rather than the $800 million initially alleged by prosecutors. Attorneys on both sides will recommend an 11-year prison term at sentencing April 27, but U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages has discretion over the prison time. By treaty, Habibe would be allowed to serve the balance of his term in Aruba. The case dating back to 1993 was a test of U.S. power to prosecute foreign nationals for offenses committed by drug rings distributing in the United States. Several Caribbean countries have been targeted by U.S. law enforcement agencies as money-laundering havens. ``The case is an important model,'' defense attorney Arturo Hernandez said Friday. ``I'm not going to comment on whether or not it's a successful model.'' Habibe faced a ``difficult decision'' on the plea bargain and ``viewed it as a favorable disposition of his current situation in the United States,'' Hernandez said. Habibe was accused of serving as the chief financial officer of La Costa drug cartel based on Colombia's north coast and working with both the Medellin and Cali cartels in the 1980s and early 1990s. Smuggling operations allegedly tied to the funds involved 85 tons of cocaine and 125 tons of marijuana. The indictment charged Habibe laundered money through many of his own businesses, including a car dealership, eight banks and a frozen-food company. Habibe allegedly shipped cash, used drug profits to buy and ship consumer goods to Colombian drug producers and exchanged pesos for dollars at a black-market discount. Aruba, a Dutch island 20 miles off the Venezuelan coast, has been on a State Department list of leading money-laundering centers. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek