Authorities say a Swedish man known as “El Silencio” was accused of a global scam in which he sold products from the Pablo Escobar brand (including cell phones, burners and cash) but never delivered because they did not exist.
Olaf Kyros Gustafsson, 31, was extradited from Spain to Los Angeles and was arraigned on Friday in a 115-term federal indictment accusing him of money laundering, wire fraud and mail fraud, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
He pleaded not guilty.
Gustafsson is accused of running a business called Escobar Inc., a company registered in Puerto Rico that owns the role and legacy of the late Colombian drug Lord Pablo Escobar.
Escobor is the leader of the Medellín Cartel, one of the most powerful and violent drug trafficking organizations in history of the 1980s.
Prosecutors said Gustafsson used these rights to sell a variety of Escobar-branded products between 2019 and mid-2023, often copying and underestimating the prices of other similar items sold online.
He promoted the Escobar flamethrower, an Escobar Fold phone, an Escobar Gold 11 Pro phone and an Escobar Cash, which he touted as a “physical cryptocurrency.” Prosecutors say none of these products actually exist.
To attract interest from customers who do not exist in Escobar Inc. products, he allegedly sent a Samsung Galaxy Fold phone wrapped in gold foil to online technology reviewers. The purpose is to attract customers to read reviews and order products.
Gustafsson accepted payments using processors such as PayPal, Stripe and Coinbase. However, instead of sending customers the product they purchased, prosecutors claimed that he would mail a “credential of ownership”, or Escobar Inc. promotional materials.
Prosecutors said he later referred the payment processor to this mailing history to defend against unhappy customers’ requests for refunds worldwide. Prosecutors said some people resided in Los Angeles, Gardner and commercially resided in the scam.
Gustafsson is accused of using bank accounts to cover up and cover up his activities in the United States, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates.
He was arrested in December 2023 in Marbella in December 2023, when Spanish police and IRS agents raided his home on Costa del Sol in Spain, according to a report by Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. The report said he tried to escape extradition by seeking asylum in Spain, but the effort was unsuccessful.
In an interview with Swedish newspapers, he criticized his country for failing to protect him from extradition.
Gustafsson was charged for 41 counts of money laundering, 35 counts of international money laundering, 25 counts of currency transactions from property derived from designated illegal activities, 9 counts of wire transfer fraud, three counts of mail fraud, one count of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit judicial and judicial counts of wire transfer fraud and postal fraud departments, and one count of engaging in currency commissions in exchange for currency.
He is still in federal custody and is scheduled to be tried on May 20.
