Santiago.- The Judicial Office of Permanent Attention Services of Santiago will hear this Monday the request for coercive measures against ten defendants identified by the Public Ministry as members of an alleged criminal structure dedicated to defrauding, extorting, and laundering assets from illicit operations that targeted citizens of the United States.
The hearing will be led by Judge Yiberty Polanco starting at 9:00 in the morning, after the process was postponed to allow the defense attorneys to study the voluminous file presented by the prosecuting body.
According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the network was dismantled through Operation XL526, an investigation that allowed for the identification of an alleged organized structure that had moved millions of pesos obtained through fraudulent schemes and extortion maneuvers directed primarily against victims in U.S. territory.
You may be interested in: Operation XL526: court to decide this Wednesday on coercion against those accused of defrauding and extorting U.S. citizens.
Among the main defendants are Carlos José Parra Languar, Eliardo Peña Almonte, Renso Darío González Almonte, Josiel Pichardo Cabrera, and Walinton Sosa Almonte, who are identified as the alleged ringleaders of the organization. The other defendants reportedly performed strategic roles within the criminal structure, according to the investigations.
During the previous hearing, the defendants’ legal representatives argued that they received formal notification of the case file just one day before the coercion hearing, a situation that, they maintained, limited their ability to analyze the evidence and properly prepare their defense strategy.
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Magistrate Polanco granted the lawyers’ request and ordered the temporary suspension of the proceedings, scheduling the continuation of the hearing for this Monday, where the Public Prosecutor’s Office is expected to present the main pieces of evidence supporting the request for precautionary measures against the defendants.
The case has generated great expectation in Santiago due to the magnitude of the accusations and the amount of economic resources that, according to the authorities, were allegedly obtained through illicit activities attributed to the alleged criminal organization.
