Overview
- The separate inquiries are being run by the U.S. attorney’s offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn with involvement from DEA and Homeland Security Investigations agents.
- Prosecutors have questioned narcotraffickers about whether Petro or his representatives sought bribes or campaign donations in exchange for preventing extradition to the United States.
- A person familiar with the inquiry told the Associated Press that investigators are examining alleged efforts inside Colombian jails to channel funds to Petro’s 2022 campaign with promises not to extradite.
- Newsweek reports the DEA has designated Petro a “priority target,” citing agency records and confidential informants linking him to multiple drug-related inquiries dating back to 2022.
- Petro publicly denied any ties to traffickers, said there is no Colombian probe implicating him, and insisted he never met with drug traffickers or accepted illicit campaign money.