Two American citizens were arrested at Juan Santamaria Airport on Thursday, November 28, and charged with money laundering. They arrived on a flight from Los Angeles, but were scheduled to fly out again two hours later on a flight to Atlanta. They are a 25-year old with last name of Skees, and a 41-year old with the last name of Howze. They were carrying more than turkey stuffing: between the two of their carry-on suitcases, they had $644,344 in clean bills, wrapped in plastic. The bills were mostly $20 denominations, but also $50s and $100s. The maximum an individual may bring into Costa Rica in cash without declaring it to customs, is $10,000.

Skees and Houze were arrested at the airport, then questioned by prosecutors of the Deputy Prosecutor’s Office against Money Laundering, Lavado de Dinero in Spanish. They were subsequently placed in Preventive Detention, where they will remain until their trial.

According to the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)’s World Factbook, Costa Rica is the center of money laundering operations for South American drug cartels. The money is laundered through real estate, construction, casinos, sportsbook activities, lawyers, notaries, accountants, and dealers in precious metals. Criminals hide their money in unlicensed non-bank institutions, like loan sharking, and also the virtually unregulated Costa Rican gambling industry. The motherlode of money laundering in Costa Rica comes from drug trafficking, according to the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE).
“Everyone in Costa Rica sees money laundering every day, in different forms,” according to Mariano Figueras, former head of Costa Rica’s Intelligence Agency (DIS). “More money is laundered through Costa Rica than any other Central American country,” according to Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE). Panama, Honduras and Guatemala rank next for money laundering.

The basic concept behind money laundering is to shift illegally obtained cash into a different entity – usually another country – then convert it into legal assets. It is estimated that $4.2 billion is laundered through Costa Rica annually.
Why is Costa Rica so appealing to money launderers? According to Insight Crime Newsletter, “a high degree of financial openness combined with the country’s expanding role in illicit drug trade has created conditions ripe for rampant money laundering”. If criminals want to bring money legally into the financial system, they usually do so through the purchase of real estate or investment in construction.

Skees and Howe will probably regret their two-hour Costa Rican vacation, when all is said and done

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