Cocaine, crypto and soccer: Accused kingpin from Uruguay fights U.S. case

Prior to his capture this year, Sebastian Marset was reputed to be one of the world’s most prolific drug traffickers, allegedly sending mountains of cocaine — 10 tons or more per shipment — from South America to Europe.

A native of Uruguay, where authorities say he proclaimed himself “King of the South” and led a criminal network dubbed “Primer Cartel Uruguayo,” or the first Uruguayan cartel, Marset, 35, has been described in some media reports as his country’s version of Pablo Escobar.

But unlike the infamous Colombian kingpin, who flooded American cities with cocaine in the 1970s and ‘80s, there is little evidence to show Marset ever moved any product to the United States.

And yet for six months, Marset has been jailed in Alexandria, Va., facing a list of federal charges that has grown longer since his arrival. Initially indicted only for alleged money laundering, he has since been accused by federal prosecutors of conspiring to smuggle cocaine on the high seas and narco-terrorism.

The case, Marset’s lawyers and some legal experts say, reflects the degree to which the Trump administration has stretched the purview of the Department of Justice when fighting its war on drugs.

Beyond blowing up dozens of boats suspected of carrying cocaine — a campaign critics denounce as both cruel and ineffective at staunching the flow of drugs — the White House has taken to labeling cartels as terrorist organizations and pushed countries to hand over suspected traffickers without going through the standard extradition process.