Two Jamaican nationals sentenced to prison after $1 million, $90+ million in cocaine seized

BOSTON – Two Jamaican nationals were sentenced in federal court in Boston for their roles in an international money laundering scheme that funneled over $6 million in drug trafficking proceeds from Colombian cartels through banking systems in the U.S., Caribbean, and Europe.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Justice, St. Devon Anthony Cover, 61, received a 42-month prison sentence from U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns after being convicted in January 2025 of one count of money laundering conspiracy and seven counts of laundering monetary instruments. Dennis Raymond Rowe, 60, was sentenced to 52 months in prison by the same judge, following his January 2025 conviction on one count of money laundering conspiracy, one count of money laundering, and two counts of laundering monetary instruments. Both face deportation after serving their sentences.

The two were part of a 20-person group from Colombia, Jamaica, and Florida indicted in May 2022 for the money laundering conspiracy. The investigation resulted in the seizure of $1 million from corporate bank accounts and linked nearly 3,000 kilograms of cocaine—valued at over $90 million—to the organization. This included 1,193 kilograms seized at sea 60 miles south of Jamaica in July 2019 and 1,555 kilograms found in nine scrap metal containers at the Port of Buenaventura, Colombia, in March 2019.

The investigation, launched in October 2016, targeted a sophisticated money laundering operation based primarily in Barranquilla, Colombia. Over five years, the group laundered more than $6 million in drug proceeds using the Colombian Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE) through intermediary banks in the U.S., including Massachusetts, as well as Caribbean and European banks. The BMPE allowed the conspirators to obscure drug trafficking activities and evade currency exchange regulations by exchanging Colombian pesos for U.S. dollars through illegal means. Roles within the organization included drug suppliers, peso brokers, money couriers, and business owners/dollar purchasers.

Using the BMPE, Colombian drug traffickers exchanged U.S.-generated drug proceeds for pesos via peso brokers in Colombia. These brokers employed money couriers to collect cash—often in suitcases or bags on the street—and deposit it into the U.S. banking system. To avoid detection, the funds were funneled through accounts under company or individual names, disguised as legitimate business activity, or broken into smaller deposits before consolidation. The resulting pool of drug-derived dollars in U.S. accounts was then sold to Colombian buyers seeking to exchange pesos for dollars at favorable rates while bypassing currency and income reporting requirements. The funds were transferred per the buyer’s instructions, often to accounts of individuals or companies uninvolved in drug trafficking.

During the conspiracy, Cover laundered approximately $268,000, while Rowe laundered over $600,000, both by delivering bulk cash drug proceeds to undercover law enforcement.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; Thomas Demeo, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office; Aura Liliana Trujillo Rojas, Delegate for Criminal Finance for the Colombian Attorney General’s Office; Ricardo Sánchez Silvestre, Brigadier General of the Colombian National Police Anti-Narcotics Directorate; Jervis Moore, Chief of the Narcotics Division for the Jamaica Constabulary Force; and Colonel Geoffrey Noble of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Office of the Judicial Attaché in Bogotá, Colombia provided significant assistance in securing the arrests and extraditions of Cover, Rowe, and other co-defendants from Colombia and Jamaica. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jared C. Dolan and Alathea E. Porter of the Criminal Division are prosecuting the case.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.