To avoid detection, the cartels have developed a number of money laundering systems that subvert financial transaction reporting requirements and manipulate facets of the economy unrelated to the traditional financial services industry. The BMPE is a complex system currently used by the Colombian cartels to launder billions of dollars of drug money each year. Once this exchange occurs, the cartel has effectively laundered its money and is out of the BMPE process. The peso broker, on the other hand, must now launder the U.S. dollars he has accumulated in the United States. The peso broker uses contacts in the United States to place the drug dollars he purchased from the cartel into the U.S. banking system.
Colombian importers place orders for items and make payments through the peso broker.
Again, the peso broker uses contacts in the U.S. to purchase the requested items from U.S. manufacturers and distributors. The peso broker pays for these goods using a variety of methods, including his U.S. banking accounts. The purchased goods are shipped to Caribbean or South American destinations, sometimes via Europe or Asia, then smuggled or otherwise fraudulently entered into Colombia. The Colombian importer takes possession of his goods, having avoided paying extensive Colombian import and exchange tariffs, and pays the peso broker for the items with Colombian pesos. The peso broker, who has made his money charging both the cartels and the importers for his services, uses those new pesos to begin the cycle once again.