The Rise and Fall of Sebastián Marset

Sebastián Marset’s criminal career spanned several years and multiple countries around the globe. Below, InSight Crime tracks it all, from his early days as a marijuana trafficker, his rise to a sophisticated broker accused of cocaine trafficking and money laundering, and his dramatic fall in Bolivia.

A Criminal Career That Spans the Globe

1991:
Born in Piedras Blancas, a working-class neighborhood in Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital.

2010-2020 – Learning the Ropes of International Drug Trafficking

2012:
Starts working in the international marijuana trade, receiving large shipments flown from Paraguay by Juan Domingo Viveros Cartes, the uncle of former Paraguay President Horacio Cartes.

2013: Marset is arrested for the first time and convicted of marijuana trafficking.

2013 – 2018: Marset is imprisoned in Uruguay alongside incarcerated members of Brazil’s First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital – PCC), as well as ‘Ndranghetta, and Balkan mafias.

2018: Marset is released from prison and soon investigated for a murder in Uruguay that authorities believed was linked to a drug debt. 

August 2018: He travels to Bolivia for the first time, allegedly to make connections with cocaine producers.

2019: Marset creates his home base in Paraguay. He is suspected of working with the Insfrán clan, a prominent family in Paraguay with high-level political and business connections. Authorities believe Marset used those contacts to launder money and avoid scrutiny from law enforcement.

2020-2026

2021 – From Paraguay to the World

April 2021: Marset signs with Deportivo Capiatá as a professional football player. He is later accused of laundering money through the club.

April 2021: Sebastián Alberti Rossi, Marset’s brother-in-law, escapes a Uruguayan prison where he was serving a sentence for murder.

June 2021: Marset leaves Paraguay for Europe and the Middle East, allegedly to build criminal connections and set up money laundering opportunities through professional football clubs and other organizations. 

October 2021: He is arrested in Dubai for traveling on a fake Paraguayan passport. His alleged partner, Miguel Ángel Insfrán, supposedly tries to get someone from the Paraguayan government to claim the passport was legitimate, to no avail.

November 2021: Uruguay issues Marset a new passport. Dubai releases Marset, and he disappears.

2022 – The Manhunt Begins

2022: Paraguay launches Operation A Ultranza PY, the largest anti-drug trafficking probe in the country’s history. Marset and 23 others are charged with drug trafficking and money laundering.

March 2022: INTERPOL announces a Red Alert for Marset’s capture.

May 2022: Paraguayan anti-mafia prosecutor Marcelo Pecci is assassinated in Colombia during his honeymoon. At the time of his murder, Pecci was investigating drug trafficking operations in Paraguay that may have been linked to Marset.

September 2022: Marset returns to Bolivia around this time and settles in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. He becomes part owner of the Leones del Torno football club, as well as a player.

2023 – Marset’s Network Unravels

February 2023: Miguel Ángel Insfrán is arrested in Brazil and extradited to Paraguay, where he is accused of running an international cocaine trafficking and money laundering ring alongside Marset.

May 2023: Paraguayan lawmaker Erico Galeano is charged with money laundering and criminal association for his ties to Marset.

July 2023: Bolivian authorities raid Marset’s mansion. He narrowly escapes, later claiming he was tipped off by police.

November 2023: Marset appears on Uruguayan television, where he says he learned a lot in prison and that it was good for his career. He admits to some involvement in the drug business, but tries to paint himself as a family man that would not involve relatives in his criminal activities.

2024 – Authorities Close In

July 2024: Gianina García Troche, who has several children with Marset, is arrested in Spain after arriving from Dubai. She faces charges of money laundering in Paraguay after allegedly setting up front companies for Marset to launder cocaine trafficking profits.

2025 – A Show of Strength

January 2025: Francisco Luis Correa Galeano, who Colombian prosecutors said handled logistics for the assassination of Pecci, is murdered in prison. His notebook contained references believed to implicate Marset and Infrán in Pecci’s killing. 

October 2025: Marset records a video flanked by armed men in front of a banner with a logo for the PCC, Brazil’s most powerful gang, threatening a former partner he accused of trying to take over his cocaine trafficking routes.

2026 – Marset Captured in Bolivia

March 2026: Galeano, the Paraguayan lawmaker, is convicted of money laundering and criminal association.

March 2026: Marset is arrested in Bolivia in a joint operation with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and flown to the United States.