Former CIA operative attempted to introduce DEA asset to Colombian FTO in Curaçao, according to U.S. attorneys
As part of opposing a request for bail, the U.S. on Tuesday filed further details from the ongoing prosecution of former CIA operative Robert Sensi and former DEA deputy financial chief Paul Campo.
“Are we going to curacao this week? Bill, you and me?” asked a controlled U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) asset in a message to former CIA operative Robert M. Sensi at 9:35 p.m. on July 20, as part of a sting targeting both Sensi and his close business partner, former deputy DEA financial operations chief Paul Campo.
The small Dutch island of Curaçao, a money-laundering haven off the northern coasts of Venezuela and Colombia, would have been a fitting place for a meeting between Sensi and the DEA asset (“Confidential Source-1” / “CS-1”), who was posing as a member of Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). According to the U.S. Government’s indictment against Sensi and Campo following their December 4 arrest, the pair “agreed to launder approximately $12,000,000 of narcotics proceeds for the CJNG; laundered approximately $750,000 by converting cash into cryptocurrency; and provided payment for approximately 220 kilograms of cocaine.” The indictment further alleged that the confidential source stated, “Welcome to the fucking cartel” after the completion of an initial June 3, 2025 transfer of $200,000 to the pair in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The newly named partner for the would-be meeting between Sensi and the DEA asset in Curaçao, “Bill,” was implied to be a representative of an unnamed Colombian organization designated by the U.S. Government as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
According to an opposition to a bail request from Sensi, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton and Assistant U.S. Attorney Varun Gumaste filed a letter on Tuesday to Judge Paul G. Gardephe which stated that, as part of Sensi and Campo’s effort “to procure weapons for CS-1, such as AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, M4 carbines, M16 rifles, grenade launchers, and rocket propelled grenades,” Sensi had attempted to “set up an international meeting between CS-1 and this FTO [Foreign Terrorist Organization] member.” “Sensi indicated CS-1 could source C-4 explosives,” the letter added.
The initial indictment against Campo and Sensi also made reference to Colombia, stating that, “CAMPO suggested, in substance and in part, that CS-1’s organization [CJNG] should create the perception that they are moving fentanyl operations from Mexico to Colombia to divert attention from Mexico.”
Less than three hours prior to the July 20 Curaçao meeting request, Sensi forwarded the DEA confidential source an amateurish video of a variety of heavy weaponry, according to images from an apparent WhatsApp conversation between the two published within Tuesday’s letter. The new evidence comes after Mr. Gumaste’s statement at a December 11 hearing in the Southern District of New York that “approximately 17 phones” had been seized from Campo’s residence alone.
Sensi’s bail request follows the 75-year-old’s transfer to a medical facility in East Orange, New Jersey on Christmas Eve, as a result of unspecified “chronic” medical conditions. “The defendant argues for his release primarily because of his age and medical conditions, which, he contends, diminish his dangerousness and risk of flight,” stated the Tuesday letter from U.S. attorneys, adding that, throughout Sensi’s collaboration with Campo, he traveled “several times to New York by plane and several times from his home in Florida to North Carolina and back by car to pick up the proceeds to launder.” “The defendant’s conduct in this scheme belies any notion that his medical conditions render him incapable of flight or causing harm,” stated the U.S. attorneys.