Nahim Jorge Bonilla, 36, the proprietor of a restaurant in Miami Beach, is still being held in federal custody on suspicion of international narcotics trafficking. In Miami Federal Court, he chose not to challenge his imprisonment.
Bonilla will be moved to Los Angeles to face several accusations after being connected to a cocaine distribution network purportedly run by a former Olympian.
The Miami Herald covered the case, which involves people from all over the Americas. Bonilla was arrested when FBI agents raided his home in Aventura last Wednesday.
As part of an indictment, the operation describes a narcotics ring that is suspected of trafficking significant quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine and is connected to multiple murders, including the horrifying killings of an Indian couple in Canada.
Bonilla was one of 12 people detained during the raid, according to WSVN.
In one startling charge, 43-year-old former Olympic snowboarder Ryan James Wedding is accused of abandoning his athletic career to work for a global drug ring.
The Miami Herald claims that Wedding threatened violence and took other drastic steps to get his associates to comply.
According to reports, the drug ring singled out Bonilla’s family and used intimidation and terror to get them to pay for drugs.
Agents allegedly discovered evidence of intricate financial systems intended to launder the proceeds of criminal activity during the incident, including more than $3 million in a single bitcoin wallet.
The group’s activities were described by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles. They included buying cocaine in Colombia, exporting it to Mexico, and then using long-haul truckers to deliver the contraband to Los Angeles and other locations. Agents emphasized that there is a substantial human cost associated with these digital transactions, with at least four lives lost as a result of the operation’s claimed violence.