U.S. and Bolivia Coordinate on Marset Crypto Laundering Probe

Bolivia’s anti‑drug chief Ernesto Justiniano and Frans William Cabrera Quispe, director of the Bolivian Special Anti‑Narcotics Force (FELCN), met U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials in Washington on Tuesday to coordinate an investigation into Sebastian Marset, who was arrested on March 13 and is accused of laundering millions using cryptocurrencies.

Officials said the meeting focused on tracing digital asset flows tied to Marset and associated drug networks across Latin America. The collaboration will target financial channels and companies that may have moved or received illicit funds and will involve joint work by the DEA and Bolivian police to follow cryptocurrency transactions and identify recipients of suspicious transfers.

Marset is now in U.S. custody. An unsealed U.S. indictment alleges he used couriers and digital tokens to move bulk illicit currency, typically in euros, and to launder proceeds from narcotics sales. Bolivian intelligence indicates many transactions tied to his network were conducted in crypto rather than cash, a pattern officials say complicates traditional anti‑money‑laundering work.

Mirko Sokol, the general commander of the Bolivian Police, noted that intelligence showed Marset operated ‘primarily in cryptocurrencies, rather than in physical currency.’ Ernesto Justiniano told local media investigators are ‘also looking into the matter of companies that may have been diverting chemicals’ and into ‘money laundering-specifically, companies that have received funds via cryptocurrencies.’

Law enforcement sources identified the Brazilian groups First Capital Command (PCC) and the Red Command (Comando Vermelho) as examples of transnational criminal organizations accused of using digital assets to move funds. Officials said planned cooperation with the DEA will expand information sharing, improve forensic analysis of blockchain records, and support joint action against intermediaries that might be converting or concealing illicit proceeds.

Investigators plan to use blockchain tracing tools and subpoenas to obtain records from cryptocurrency service providers and to look for patterns linking wallets, token transfers and exchange on‑ramps to known drug proceeds. Authorities also intend to examine corporate records where funds appear to have been routed and to probe chemical suppliers suspected of diverting precursor materials to drug producers.

A blockchain intelligence firm reported that crypto laundering volumes rose to $82 billion in 2025, an eightfold increase from about $10 billion in 2020, and identified groups based in China among the most active in those flows. Bolivian and U.S. officials said they will continue the collaboration as they work to identify and disrupt the financial infrastructure alleged to have supported Marset’s activities.