Overview
- The Audiencia Nacional issued a 325‑page judgment that on Wednesday, September 23, 2026 sentenced José Ramón Prado Bugallo, known as Sito Miñanco, to 17 years in prison and ordered more than €420 million in fines.
- The court convicted him of two crimes — 12 years for drug trafficking and 5 years for organized‑crime money‑laundering — after finding the 2017 network moved about 3,305.280 kg of cocaine on the vessel Thoran and 615 kg into the Netherlands.
- Judges found laundering proved only where money was shown to be incorporated into the legal economy through a company called Autos Vicmar and rejected charges tied to several other firms because the evidence did not show funds entered the financial circuit.
- The court acquitted lawyer Gonzalo Boye of money‑laundering and documentary‑falsity charges after saying the prosecution’s case depended largely on a single witness, Manuel Puentes Saavedra, whose testimony lacked corroboration in key respects.
- The ruling clarifies two practical points for future prosecutions: transporting or holding cash is not by itself proof of laundering and courts will require objective evidence that illicit funds were introduced into commercial or banking channels; this decision also leaves dozens of co‑defendants either convicted to terms of three to 17 years or fully acquitted.