Colombian President Gustavo Petro is the subject of several ongoing narcotics trafficking investigations being overseen by federal prosecutors in New York, sources told CBS News on Friday.
The separate narco-trafficking investigations, based out of New York’s Southern and Eastern districts, did not set out to target Petro initially, but his name has come up during the course of both probes, one of the sources said.
The probes are still in the very early stages and it is unclear if Petro could face any criminal charges, the source added. Being a subject of an investigation does not necessarily mean an individual will face charges, and the term “subject” refers to the fact that the conduct is within the scope of a probe. A target is the direct focus of an investigation and faces a high likelihood of an indictment due to substantial amounts of evidence.
The fact that Petro’s name has come up in several drug trafficking investigations was first reported by the New York Times.
The White House did not request any investigation into Petro, a source said, and his name came up organically in the course of the other drug-trafficking investigations.
On X, Petro said in a translated post that “never in my life have I spoken with a drug trafficker,” and had spent a decade “denouncing the links between the most powerful drug trafficker and the politicians in the Congress.” He added that during his campaigns, he has “always told my managers” that no donations were to be accepted from bankers or drug traffickers. Petro predicted that the outcome of the U.S. probes would ultimately help “dismantle the accusations” that have been leveled at him from the far right in his own country.
Petro and President Trump have had a fraught relationship. During a speech at the United Nations last year, Petro called for criminal proceedings against Mr. Trump and he also referred to him as the “New Hitler.”
The Trump administration has accused the Colombian government of failing to contain a spike in cocaine production. In October of last year, Mr. Trump called Petro an “illegal drug leader,” and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced sanctions on Petro and his family, claiming he “has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity.”
But a phone call in January seemed to have smoothed over their differences. Both Mr. Trump and Petro characterized their call as positive, and the president said the two planned to meet at the White House at some point.
Last October, the Treasury Department announced sanctions on Petro, members of his family, including his wife Verónica, and allies like Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, citing alleged links to drug trafficking networks. In Colombia, there have been multiple investigations into Petro’s closest associates.
The most serious case involves Petro’s son, Nicolás Petro. He was arrested in 2023 on money laundering and illicit enrichment charges, accused of receiving money from individuals linked to drug trafficking.
In court, Nicolás admitted that illegal funds had made their way into his father’s campaign but also said Gustavo Petro didn’t know about it. It’s an ongoing case, and Petro’s son has been cooperating with authorities in Colombia.
There have been other formal investigations into the financing of the 2022 presidential campaign, including one on possible illegal donations and spending limit violations. The focus of those investigations was Ricardo Roa, Petro’s former campaign manager and currently president of Colombia’s state oil company Ecopetrol. He hasn’t been convicted but the company’s worker unions are trying to get him fired.
In 2023, Benedetti, now the interior minister, was heard in leaked audio claiming he’d secured massive sums of money for the Petro’s 2022 presidential campaign and threatening to reveal damning information about campaign financing violations.
The audio files were recorded when Benedetti was serving as ambassador to Venezuela. No charges were ever filed.
Around the same time, Petro’s chief of staff, Laura Sarabia, was briefly forced out over a separate scandal involving a polygraph test and alleged illegal phone interceptions of one of her housekeepers. Sarabia was recently appointed Colombia’s ambassador to the U.K., though she barely speaks English.
The news about Petro comes at a time when the Justice Department has been focused on ramping up efforts to target political officials in Cuba, CBS News previously reported.
Earlier this year, the government also sent forces into Venezuela to capture its president Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York City to face criminal charges.
