U.S. Returns $29.7 Million in Laundered Lottery Proceeds to Curaçao
The U.S. Department of Justice is returning $29.7 million to Curaçao after U.S. courts enforced Curaçaoan restraint and forfeiture orders against proceeds of an eight-year fraud, money laundering and tax-evasion scheme.
The Justice Department announced the transfer on September 17, 2026. The money will be sent to Curaçao in three installments and represents proceeds linked to an unlicensed lottery operation and the failure to pay taxes on lottery income and other sources.
According to U.S. court documents cited by the department, Robertico A. Dos Santos orchestrated the scheme and was prosecuted in Curaçao. The illicit proceeds were held in investment accounts at a Miami bank that Dos Santos had opened in the names of companies he controlled.
At Curaçao’s request, the Justice Department’s Money Laundering, Narcotics, and Forfeiture Section obtained an order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia enforcing a pre-trial restraining order issued by a Curaçao court. After Dos Santos was convicted and sentenced in Curaçao, U.S. authorities again acted at Curaçao’s request and obtained a U.S. court order enforcing the Curaçao court’s final forfeiture order against the restrained funds.
The transfer is being made in recognition of Curaçao’s losses and its assistance to the United States in securing forfeiture of the proceeds. The Justice Department said the arrangement is also intended to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in investigations and prosecutions involving transnational financial crime, money laundering, corruption, human trafficking and the recovery of criminal proceeds.
The recovered money is to be used over time for law-enforcement purposes in Curaçao. Under the transfer terms, disbursements will be audited regularly by a non-profit accounting firm in Curaçao and annually by an external auditor. None of the returned funds may be paid to Dos Santos, members of his family or businesses he controls. The transfer terms and audit reports are to be made public in Curaçao and provided to Curaçao’s Minister of Justice and the United States.
The case illustrates the cross-border mechanics of asset recovery where criminal proceeds are held in another jurisdiction: rather than commencing an unrelated forfeiture process, U.S. authorities used domestic court procedures to recognize and enforce Curaçaoan restraint and forfeiture orders against assets located in the United States.
