On November 15, 2012 in Bogota Colombia, Freddy Mauricio Tellez-Buitrago, a Colombian and employee of the Attorney General’s Office in Colombia, was arrested and charged with obstructing justice by selling sensitive and confidential United States law enforcement information concerning prosecutions in the Eastern District of New York to a former prosecutor at the Attorney General’s office in Colombia, Adriana Gonzalez-Marquez (now a criminal defense attorney in Columbia); in turn, Gonzalez-Marquez sold the information to a narcotics trafficker.

The arrests resulted from an investigation which revealed that Tellez-Buitrago had specialized access to law enforcement materials, including requests from the United States government for the extradition of alleged Colombian drug traffickers. (1)

Typically, the Colombian authorities treat such extradition requests as sensitive and confidential until the arrest of the individual whose extradition is sought. Tellez-Buitrago was charged with accepting bribes from Gonzalez-Marquez in exchange for leaking documents relating to EDNY extradition requests for narcotics traffickers.  As already mentioned, Gonzalez-Marquez, allegedly sold the information to a narcotics trafficker in exchange for the equivalent of approximately $80,000 USD.

On August 3, 2013, Freddy Mauricio Tellez-Buitrago was extradited back to the U.S. to stand trial on four counts of corruption of a government official.  On December 9, 2013 at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, Tellez-Buitrago plead guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cheryl M. Pollak, to obstruction of justice for stealing selling sensitive and confidential United States law enforcement information concerning prosecutions in the Eastern District of New York and selling that information.  He was sentenced to 240 months' imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 USD; he also agreed to forfeit $30,000 USD. (2)

On August 13, 2014, Freddy Mauricio Tellez-Buitrago BOP Register Number 80674-053 was successfully treaty transferred* back to Colombia. (3)

*Colombia and the U.S. do not have a prisoner treaty transfer in effect; Amicus secured an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice o make this transfer possible.