Release, illness, and the question

Lehder was the first high-level drug trafficker extradited to the United States. He was released from US prison in 2020 after serving 33 years. He was repatriated to Germany on June 16, 2020, with a provisional German passport. In March 2025, he landed in Bogotá but was briefly detained over an old weapons charge; three days later a judge ordered his release because his 24-year Colombian sentence had expired in 2019.

According to his daughter, one reason for his release was a relapse of prostate cancer, diagnosed years earlier. A charity in Germany agreed to pay for his treatment.

At his capture his fortune was estimated at 8 to 9 billion US dollars — one of the richest men in the world. Then 33 years in US prisons, far from his family. In the end, a charity pays for his cancer treatment.

Was it worth it?