Jaime Rosenthal: Who's the crocodile-farming Honduran banking magnate wanted by the US?

Jaime Rosenthal, a Honduran banker worth $690m (£446m) and the proud owner of no less than 10,000 crocodiles and 11,000 head of cattle, is wanted by the US for his alleged ties to Latin American drug cartels. But who is the multimillionaire and former vice president of Honduras?

On 7 October, Rosenthal, son of a Romanian-Jewish émigré to Honduras, was declared by the US Treasury as a known drug trafficker. The Honduran elite were stunned that one of their own, a one-time possible president who met with former US president Ronald Reagan in the White House, was being sanctioned by the US government.

Rosenthal has at least 20 businesses in Honduras, according to Bloomberg Business, including cattle and crocodile farming. He made the vast majority of his wealth in banking, however, and Honduras' Banking Commission has ordered Banco Continental, the largest part of his portfolio, to liquidate. The bank has about $500m in assets.

The 79-year-old has given no indication that he wishes to leave the country where he owns 23 properties and his family has 100 members of support staff including nurses, drivers and bodyguards.

Rosenthal graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1958 and served as Honduran vice-president from 1986 to 1989. A long-time member of the Honduran liberal party, which he was to go on to lead, he spoke out against the country's 2009 coup against President Manuel Zelaya.

The magnate now faces major restrictions from the US Treasury, which he has stated he expects to be cleared of in court. It has placed sanctions on Inversiones Continental, which controls Rosenthal's banking, financial services, property, agriculture and construction interests as well as many others and three offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands.