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Entertainment August 15, 2017
When you die, you can't take the money with you.
Photo by @History_Pics via TwitterAfter he died, Pablo Escobar’s money was difficult to track.
According to Ati, Pablo’s wealth peaked at 30 billion dollars. With this amount of money attributed to his name and his cartel, he made Forbes’ annual list of “World’s Richest People” seven years in a row. That’s no surprise, though, considering his weekly income has reached a whopping $420 million.
But of course, a man with this much money had to have someone who could keep up with all its movements.
Although the huge amounts of cash were an afterthought, they were key to running Pablo’s business. So, of course, he put his brother in charge, someone he trusted. (Although, it turned out Pablo misplaced his trust, seeing as Roberto later became a DEA informant.)
Pablo also had six siblings:
However, only two were privy to his money during his life and after he died: Roberto Escobar and Alba Marina Escobar.
Roberto Escobar actually wrote a book, titled “The Accountant’s Story: Inside the Violent World of the Medellin Cartel,” which outlined all the places Pablo’s money went during his reign.
In “The Accountant’s Story,” Roberto explains that, unsurprisingly, a lot of Pablo’s money went to public officials. It either went to bribes or campaign funding out of like interests.
The New York Times reports that one controversial campaign Pablo supported belonged to Colombian President, Ernesto Samper. Apparently, the president would meet with traffickers to shorten their sentences. And as a quid pro quo for his services, Pablo funneled millions of dollars to his campaign.
In his book, Roberto also explains that millions of dollars would go toward Pablo Escobar’s Robin Hood image. He was a man who helped the people. He built houses, stadiums, schools, hospitals and even paid people’s medical bills.
A surprising cartel expenditure also comes from their rubber band bill. Apparently, the Medellin cartel would spend $2,500 on rubber bands alone to hold his money together. Pablo spent the equivalent amount for a two-story 4 bed, 3 1/2 bath home. Wonderful.
But we guess that’s nothing to a man like Pablo Escobar. This is the same man who could easily burn $2 million without blinking to keep his daughter warm, bury tons of cash in the jungle and casually write off 10 percent of all funds due to “spoilage” (aka rats ate it).
Following the outline of this Quora contributor, we’re going to divide the assets into categories to make the information easier to understand:
1. Category One: Liquid assets like cash, cars, houses, clothes, etc.
2. Category Two: Immediate Hidden assets in places that are easily accessible like caves, the jungle, secret compartments of the house, etc.
3. Category Three: Remotely Hidden assets in places that are harder to access in banks from other countries, laundered through foreign businesses, etc.
4. Category Four: Lost assets that happened to get lost in the transition of gaining the money and spending or hiding it.
Pablo hid a lot of his cash in jungles or secret compartments. So, many people think there’s some comprehensive treasure map that could lead them to hordes of his cash. However, that’s a fantasy, people. No one created a map. He kept all the information in his head and relayed the location of the funds to whoever needed to know.
Also, there was no huge lump sum that Pablo Escobar saved for his family. Pablo didn’t set aside an inheritance for his son or daughter, that’s why they don’t have their own category.
In CNN’s exclusive interview with Pablo’s son, now named Sebastián Marroquín, Sebastián explains that the assets in category one mostly went to the Colombian government. It includes Type C money that the government could trace to Pablo or people who were in Pablo’s main team.
Then, of course, the Cali cartel and Los PEPES demanded their own payments for their involvement in taking down the kingpin. In his book titled, “Pablo Escobar: My Father,” Sebastián also revealed that whatever the government didn’t take in liquid assets, the Cali cartel and Los PEPES forced the family to sign over to them.
He also explains in the CNN article that both groups then stole most of the category two assets for themselves. Ex-members of the Medellin cartel who turned to Cali after Pablo’s death told them where to find a lot of the money.
People who worked for Pablo but didn’t move over to Cali might have also taken a large chunk of category two assets. They probably felt like they were owed a severance payment from their late boss. Understandable.
In Sebastián’s book, he tells the anecdote of how hard it was to live after Pablo died. Without Pablo and the Medellin cartel to keep them safe, they bought out an entire hotel floor so no one could sneak up on them. Then the government filled the hotel with guards to protect them from Pablo’s enemies. However, this became too expensive, especially after the guards charged their own purchases to the family.
Since the family was low on funds, Sebastián asked his aunt, Alba Marina Escobar, to go to a secret hiding place that held six million dollars. Unfortunately, however, she reported that there was hardly any money left when she returned.
After the funeral processions were over, the Cali cartel and Los PEPES shook down the Escobar family for what they were worth. As part of their agreement with the Medellin’s rival factions, the Escobars moved from country to country. Because of this, they most likely lived on what was left of the Type B and Type C money that they had access to.
According to XPAT Nation, they lived a middle-class life type in Bueno Aires. And though the Argentinian government initially attacked the Escobars with unfounded charges, they now live pretty quiet lives.
Well, except Sabastián. He seems to love the limelight and the opportunities that being Pablo Escobar’s son has afforded him.
As for what happened to the money to the rest of his billions? Who knows.
Maybe it’s all in a ripped plastic bag under pounds of foliage or perhaps it’s stuffed in an abandoned house’s closet.
What else do you think could’ve happened to Pablo Escobar’s money after he died? Have you found some juicy information we didn’t? Share your ideas in the comment section below or tweet us at @entity_mag.
