Former Puerto Rico attorney for notorious drug trafficker sentenced in money laundering case

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico _ A former Puerto Rico lawyer who represented a man once known as the “Pablo Escobar of the Caribbean” has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison on money laundering charges.

Attorney Ramon Negron Colon pleaded guilty following accusations that he tried to nullify his client’s conviction and sentence in late 2007 with a bribe of up to $3 million. Authorities alleged the money was drug trafficking revenue linked to reputed Caribbean drug kingpin Jose Figueroa Agosto.

Figueroa was arrested in July 2010 in his native Puerto Rico on federal drug trafficking charges. He had previously escaped prison in the U.S. territory and became the Dominican Republic’s most wanted man for a decade after authorities said he built a criminal empire there.

Negron was sentenced Friday.

The Associated Press