A Miami social media influencer whose usual wont is to flaunt designer bags and a lavish lifestyle on the gram has been arrested by Colombian authorities for her family’s alleged massive money laundering scheme.
Colombia-born Jenny Ambuila, 26, lived a lavish lifestyle in Miami, frequently posting her designer wares, expensive car, and her luxury vacations in Europe on Facebook and Instagram.
But Jenny’s jet-set fairy tale lifestyle came to a sour end when she was arrested last Friday along with her father, Omar Ambuila and mother, Elba Chara and another customs official while on vacation in Colombia.
Prosecutors say Ambuila’s father worked as a mid-level customs officer at the Colombian seaport of Buenaventura and allegedly pocketed millions of dollars in exchange for letting untaxed goods pass into the country.
Their arrests are a part of a Colombian investigation to stop smuggling into local markets before they’re flooded with contraband goods.
Authorities hope their arrests can help untangle a larger web of corruption at the seaport.
‘This is a fundamental case in our fight against smuggling. We are going after all of this corrupt structure, and the resources behind them,’ Andres Jimenez, a Colombian prosecutor, told a local radio station.
The Office of the Public Prosecutor in Colombia said Ambuila, who was the head of the Internal Work Group of Cargo control of the Dian for the past 27 years, made a monthly salary $3,000 as a ports inspector, according to El Tiempo.
Jimenez says he received at least $600,000 in bribes since 2012 in overseas payments and could have received much more.
Those illicit funds were then allegedly sent to Ambuila’s daughter to the University of Miami, where she studied from 2013 to 2017 and earned a bachelor’s degree in finance.
‘In exchange for their illicit act, these two people (Ambuila and the other official of the Dian) and other alleged accomplices would have received millionaire dividends that were hidden through front companies or were turned over to their relatives to acquire goods and services that would exceed their economic capacity,’ prosecutors said.
‘For example, the two officials did not have salaries over 6 million pesos, however, they recorded income and purchases for much higher amounts with no clarity of their origin,’ they added.
