‘Gerente’ sentenced to 13 years in prison in Comandos de la Frontera case

Roberto Carlos Vera Álvarez, known as “Gerente,” has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for money laundering in Ecuador’s Comandos de la Frontera case. A Criminal Guarantees Tribunal announced the ruling on Sunday, September 6, 2026, after the trial hearing resumed.

Vera Álvarez had admitted responsibility for money laundering days before the sentence. The prosecutor’s office presented its case against 17 individuals and five companies. The tribunal imposed 13-year sentences on 13 other people, while Mentor A., another defendant, received 10 years as a direct perpetrator.

The court also found the five companies criminally responsible and ordered fines, closure, dissolution and confiscation. The fine will equal three times the amount linked to the laundering offense, although the specific figures will appear in the written judgment.

According to the prosecution’s investigation, the alleged scheme involved more than $300 million during the 2015 to 2025 financial period. Prosecutors said the structure included individuals and companies that used economic activities registered with Ecuador’s Internal Revenue Service to conceal the real origin of illicit funds and give them the appearance of legality.

Prosecutors also said illicit proceeds financed the purchase of several properties in Vera Álvarez’s name. Some of the money went to his children, Carlos and Kerly, who received sentences in another organized-crime case. Ecuadorian authorities identify “Gerente” as the leader of Comandos de la Frontera, a Colombian organization operating along the Ecuador-Colombia border and linked to drug trafficking, illegal mining and other crimes.

Vera Álvarez was captured in the United Arab Emirates in June 2025. Six months later, authorities transferred him to Ecuador and placed him in the El Encuentro prison in Santa Elena. Interior Minister John Reimberg said Vera Álvarez is among the Ecuadorians who could face extradition to the United States, along with his children, according to the information provided.