According to a court filing, the mining activities were started by two Americans of Iranian origin who live comfortably in Miami. His defense in Colombia has been led by the firm of Diego Cadena, known for representing former President Álvaro Uribe and drug traffickers.

Although some of the members of the network were convicted of crimes against the environment, the sentence does not compare to the ecological and human devastation caused.

This research was carried out for more than eight months in five Colombian cities and one American city. He went through a brief retention of the journalistic team by paramilitaries who control the area where the network operated in Chocó, the reluctance of the Colombian authorities to provide information, the silence of the victims and the anonymity of the sources. In the end, the case would reveal state negligence and impunity for environmental crimes in Colombia, whose impacts are not penalized or proportionally repaired in judicial courts.