On May 21, the U.S. government issued a reward offer of up to $2 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of one of South America’s most wanted fugitive drug traffickers.
Sebastian Enrique Marset Cabrera, 34, a Uruguayan citizen also known as Gabriel de Souza Beumer or Luis Paulo Amorim Santos, is charged with money laundering in the United States and drug trafficking in Paraguay and Bolivia.
“The United States is also soliciting anyone with direct knowledge of Marset’s drug trafficking, money laundering, and acts of violence (actual or threatened) to contact the tipline,” the State Department said on Wednesday.
Marset was indicted on March 7, 2024, in the United States for money laundering involving proceeds from his organization’s drug trafficking through U.S. financial institutions, according to the department in a wanted bulletin.
In August 2023, Bolivian authorities announced a $100,000 reward for the capture of the Uruguayan national.
Marset’s wanted notice comes after an investigation into organized crime carried out by the Paraguayan government in conjunction with the Uruguayan Ministry of the Interior, Europol, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in Asunción, Paraguay, the State Department reported.
The investigation linked a criminal network led by Marset to more than 16 tons of cocaine that were seized in Europe, including the seizure of 11 tons in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, in April 2021 and another 4.7 tons in Paraguay.
F. Cartwright Weiland, a senior official at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, said during an online press conference that Marset could be in Venezuela.
“He is one of the most wanted fugitives in the entire Southern Cone,” Weiland said. The region includes Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
“Marset shamefully hides behind his movie villain persona while competing in sports car races and buying a soccer team,” he added. “His wealth is stained with blood, with the suffering he has spread from Montevideo to Miami.”
“We know today that [Marset’s] location may be in Venezuela,” said the official. Although “it is not confirmed,” he added.
Weiland also mentioned Gianina García Troche, Marset’s wife, also a Uruguayan citizen, who was arrested at the Madrid airport in July 2024 and extradited to Paraguay after a red notice was issued by Interpol for her alleged involvement in Marset’s crimes.
On May 21, in a separate statement, the DEA reported that Federico Ezequiel Santoro Vassallo, a close associate of Marset, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to a money laundering conspiracy involving millions of dollars from drug trafficking.
According to the DEA, Santoro directed the movement of at least $8 million from drug trafficking through U.S. banks in less than five months.
