Three members of powerful Honduras family charged with money laundering.
| Autor | Rodriguez, George |
Jaime Rosenthal, known as don Jaime, the head of a powerful and influential Honduras clan, never saw it coming. All of a sudden, the vast Rosenthal empire began to crumble.
On Oct. 6, United States judicial and financial authorities charged the clan's three top figures don Jaime himself, son Yani Rosenthal, and nephew Yankel Rosenthal--with laundering money through their bank, the Banco Continental, and other businesses that make up the family's Grupo Continental.
The group includes companies covering a whole gamut of enterprises, among them agriculture, banking, food processing, investment, media, real estate, and tourism.
As unbelievable as that action was for a family whose power had so far seemed unlimited, immediately after the charges were filed, another devastating blow came down on the Rosenthals: Their assets were frozen, and their bank was closed.
The dynasty's influence in Honduras is based on don Jaime's leadership roles in the economic and political fields, including the judiciary, and in sports, specifically soccer.
Their financial might is reflected in the family's fortune--estimated at US$690 million--and the group's assets, which Forbes placed two years ago in the vicinity of US$1.2 billion. Last year, Forbes ranked don Jaime among the top 12 Central American entrepreneur millionaires.
Political clout
Their political power is based on don Jaime's role as a key leader of the historic Partido Liberal (PL). He was a presidential pre-candidate three times and served as vice president from 1986 until 1989 under President Jose Azcona (1986-1990).
He was a PL diputado (2002-2006) in the Congreso Nacional (the Honduran single-chamber parliament) and a presidential adviser for several PL governments.
His son, Yani Rosenthal, was also a PL diputado (2010-2014) after serving as minister of the presidency (2006-2007) under President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya (2006-2009), who was toppled in a bloody coup in June 2009 (NotiCen, June 25, 2015). The younger Rosenthal was a presidential candidate in the elections held two years ago.
Nephew Yankel is president of the soccer team Club Deportivo Marathon--currently the Honduran national champion. Jumping party lines, he was briefly minister of investments under current President Juan Orlando Hernandez (elected in 2014), of the rightist Partido Nacional (PN), the PL's historic adversary.
On Oct. 7, 24 hours after the charges were made, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets...
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