Ecuador traces illicit money flows to dismantle organised crime networks
Ecuador intensifies financial investigations against criminal structures, with operations revealing billions in asset laundering. Cases such as Emporio Presidiario expose links between legal companies and narco-terrorist organisations.
Ecuador intensifies asset tracking to strike at criminal financing
Ecuador is intensifying the tracking of transfers, companies, properties and other assets linked to alleged criminal structures, according to dialogo-americas.com. Cases investigated in 2026 reflect a strategy seeking to go beyond arrests: to reconstruct the path of money, identify the business networks that move it and act on the assets sustaining illicit operations.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) considers asset recovery an operational priority. Financial investigations make it possible to identify assets, operations and individuals linked to criminal activities, in addition to uncovering new suspects, crimes and evidence. Freezing, seizing and forfeiting those resources can prevent illicit proceeds from returning to the criminal circuit and financing new operations.
Emporio Presidiario operation: USD 1,700 million traced
An investigation launched in 2025 illustrates the scope of that strategy. Ecuador's Public Prosecutor opened the case after receiving a report of unusual operations involving individuals and companies that allegedly used transport, food and security companies to introduce illicit money into the financial system.
The inquiry led to the Emporio Presidiario operation, executed in mid-March 2026 in the provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos and Pichincha. The National Police conducted 13 raids and arrested 11 people. According to the authorities, a foreign citizen led the structure through family companies dedicated to transport, food services and private security, among other activities.
Investigators also identified transfers related to Corganpecsa, a company linked to Inda Peñarrieta, the partner of Adolfo Macías, alias Fito. The United States Department of the Treasury identifies Macías as leader of Los Choneros, an Ecuadorian terrorist organisation involved in drug trafficking and money laundering.
The Ministry of the Interior indicated that the operations investigated spanned eight years and that the structure had moved approximately USD 1,700 million within Ecuador's financial system. Minister John Reimberg described the operation as "probably the largest blow to the criminal economy of Los Choneros".
Comandos de la Frontera case: 19 defendants and USD 398 million in trial
Emporio Presidiario is not an isolated case. In April 2026, a judge called 19 individuals and five companies to trial in the Comandos de la Frontera case for the alleged laundering of nearly USD 398 million through heavy transport companies, cattle ranching enterprises and other activities. The investigation also originated from a report of unusual operations by the Financial and Economic Analysis Unit (UAFE).
Financial information allows one to begin from a single transaction and reconstruct broader relationships. According to the UAFE, 87 per cent of deposits registered in the accounts of the mayor of Machala, in El Oro province, were in cash, and many deposits were withdrawn on the same day or the next. The body also identified financial links between companies and municipal contractors.
"Criminal financial intelligence is a specialisation of economic intelligence oriented towards criminal prosecution. It seeks the analysis, pursuit and development of evidence to support a criminal proceeding," explained Edgardo Glavinich, executive director of the Sherman Kent Foundation, a Latin American research centre specialising in security, intelligence and strategic governance.
USD 66 million frozen in seafood exporter case
Following the money also makes it possible to locate assets acquired with resources of alleged illicit origin. In May 2026, a judge called one individual and PezyMar Export S.A.S. to trial for alleged asset laundering and confirmed the freezing of USD 66 million in bank accounts, in addition to maintaining restrictions on assets and the suspension and intervention of the company.
The Public Prosecutor presented reports from the UAFE, tax reports, property purchase and sale contracts, vehicle records and financial, accounting and corporate expert assessments. The file indicates that approximately USD 13 million would have entered the financial system between 2021 and 2024 through that company dedicated to exporting seafood products.
"Flows originating from criminal markets can enter the formal economy. Trusts and other financial tools are used," explained Glavinich. Once a property is acquired with those resources, the asset becomes part of the formal economy, he added.
The challenge: prevent, not just prosecute
Profits allow criminal organisations to sustain operations, expand networks and penetrate legal activities. For this reason, the FATF considers asset recovery an integral part of financial investigations and maintains that depriving those structures of their resources can disrupt and deter their operations.
The challenge transcends drug trafficking. "What is lacking is sufficient analysis of activities: asset laundering, human trafficking, trafficking in flora and fauna, and illegal mining, among others," noted Glavinich. "We prosecute money laundering and the financial assets of criminal organisations, but we do not prevent them. A mature and expanded system of economic intelligence should generate alerts when an injection of funds occurs whose origin cannot be determined".
In May 2025, the FATF, INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime warned that strengthening asset recovery would limit the capacity for expansion of criminal and terrorist groups. The bodies also called for more specific financial investigations and greater international cooperation to trace illicit resources, given that the speed at which money circulates requires expanding inquiries beyond national borders.
Source: Google News EC — Crime