Charles A. Intriago, a former Miami federal prosecutor turned entrepreneur, who parlayed a newsletter about money laundering into a vibrant enterprise, is at it again.

This time, the 66-year-old Coconut Grove resident has launched AssetForfeitureWatch.com. The news, training, conference and association business will focus on keeping law enforcement professionals clued in on the rapidly expanding area of asset forfeiture.

''Our motto is turn the wealth of criminal organizations against them,'' said Intriago, who will lease office space on Miami's Brickell Avenue in December for his new venture. ``You don't do a thing if you don't take their bling.''

The website launches Friday and will be available free until Jan. 2, 2009, when it will convert to a paid subscription site. It also will run ads, drawing primarily on the host of firms that market goods and services to police agencies.

Articles on AssetForfeitureWatch.com range from a staff piece about the Justice Department asking the Berwyn, Ill., police department to justify its use of $750,000 in forfeiture funds to an item about an important civil forfeiture case in Canada's Supreme Court.

Intriago sees a potentially huge audience among the nation's thousands of law enforcement agencies that are interested in breaking news, analysis and trends in asset forfeiture. While the federal government has extensive information programs on asset forfeiture, it isn't easily available to state and local officials.

MISINFORMATION

''There is a lot of misinformation about forfeiture programs'' said Michael Perez, an editorial board member at AssetForfeitureWatch. He retired last year from the Justice Department where he was a senior executive in asset forfeiture.

''To the extent this provides educational tools [about asset forfeiture to law enforcement officials], that's a service that is needed,'' Perez said.

The issue of asset forfeiture is also of keen interest abroad, where it is typically referred to as ``proceeds of crime.''

AssetForfeitureWatch has scheduled its first global conference April 15-16, 2009 at the Westin Diplomat Resort in Hollywood -- the same hotel Intriago used for his anti-money-laundering conferences. It is also planning a series of online seminars for law enforcement.

Intriago has hired 13 employees, based in various spots around the country, and put together an editorial board with top experts. Ed Wasserman, a former editor at The Miami Herald and the Daily Business Review who is now a journalism professor at Washington and Lee University, is a contributing editor at the fledgling online venture.

While the new venture, part of Intriago Group, is aimed at law enforcement, Intriago said he won't hesitate to report on improprieties when warranted. ''We're going to call it straight,'' he said.

Intriago founded Money Laundering Alert in 1989 as a newsletter. His timing proved uncanny as the focus on dirty money soon intensified, as did the debate over the role and responsibilities of financial institutions.

His former company, Alert Global Media, expanded into the annual Money Laundering Alert International Conference and Exhibition, which drew experts from around the world and became popular for his showmanship. ''I like to make them interactive -- Oprah Winfrey style,'' said Intriago.

He also added the Association of Certified Anti-Moneylaundering Specialists, which his wife, Joy Meason-Intriago, spearheaded.

COMPANY SOLD

In December 2006, he sold Alert Global Media to Fortent, which is part of Wall Street private equity firm Warburg Pincus. Intriago left Alert Global Media in March 2008, just five days after the March 19 close of the most recent money-laundering conference. Neither he nor a Fortent spokesman would explain the split.

Intriago said he remains a shareholder in the firm. ''It's a business decision,'' Intriago said. ``I wish them well.''

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