Sinaloa Cartel Money Launderer Pleaded Guilty to Laundering $13 Million in Hard Narcotics Proceeds
A man from Tijuana, Mexico pleaded guilty in federal court today to managing and supervising an “extensive” international money laundering organization that smuggled, from the United States to Mexico, through Southern California and elsewhere, under his direction, $13 million of narcotics proceeds.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Robert S. Brewer Jr. for the Southern District of California and Special Agent in Charge Dave Shaw of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Diego Field Office, made the announcement.
Cesar Hernandez-Martinez, 29, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit international money laundering before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernard G. Skomal. Hernandez-Martinez was extradited from Mexico to the United States in September 2018. The narcotics -- multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin – were smuggled into the United States from Mexico by a drug trafficking organization that Hernandez-Martinez acknowledged was a part of, or affiliated with, the Sinaloa Cartel. Through his plea agreement, Hernandez-Martinez admitted that, from approximately April 2013 until November 2015, he owned and operated currency exchange houses in Tijuana that received smuggled proceeds. Hernandez-Martinez further admitted to knowing that these smuggled proceeds were from narcotics trafficking activity in the United States. According to the plea agreement, Hernandez-Martinez also coordinated couriers involved in smuggling this currency from the United States to Mexico, ensuring that they picked up the currency from the correct sources who were primarily located in Southern California.
Read more: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/sinaloa-cartel-money-launderer-pleaded-guilty-laundering-13-million-hard-narcotics-proceeds
