Tagged: money laundering

Mexican cops seize luxury ranch tied to border narco-governor

(BREITBART) — by Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby

Agents with the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office raided a luxury ranch tied to a former cartel-linked governor who is the target of an ongoing embezzlement and money laundering investigation.

Authorities raided a luxurious ranch tracing back to former Tamaulipas Governor Eugenio Hernandez. The agents also searched for two yet-unnamed individuals who are targets of the ongoing investigation against the former politician. The pair were not found during the raid.

State authorities arrested Hernandez last week in the state capital of Ciudad Victoria on warrants charging him with one count of embezzlement and one count of money laundering. The case against Hernandez is linked to the purchase of a large piece of state-owned coastal property that, according to authorities, he purchased for one percent of the property’s fair market value.

Since carrying out the arrest, authorities seized the large tract of property and raided a luxury ranch registered to one of the shell companies used by Hernandez. The property boasts a pool, tennis court, various buildings, and warehouses, as well as a rodeo arena.

The former politician is currently listed as a fugitive by the U.S. Department of Justice on multiple money laundering charges. Hernandez is wanted by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as well.

Despite his fugitive status in the U.S., Mexican authorities did not move against Hernandez–who lived with complete impunity–until Tamaulipas state authorities arrested him. The action by state authorities follows last year’s landslide election win by current governor Francisco Cabeza de Vaca, who is from the National Action Party (PAN). Under Cabeza de Vaca’s term, investigators discovered that former PRI Governor Egidio Torre provided state cops as bodyguards to Hernandez and another fugitive cartel-linked governor, Tomas Yarrington.

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Gulf Cartel’s top boss pleads guilty in U.S. court

(BREITBART) — by Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — The man who once had full command of the Gulf Cartel during its heyday pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy and charges of assaulting a federal officer.

Jorge “El Coss” Costilla Sanchez went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Morgan and entered a guilty plea to one drug conspiracy charge and two separate counts of assault on a federal officer.

From 2003 until his arrest in 2012, Costilla controlled the criminal organization known as the Gulf Cartel (CDG). According to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office, since the 1990’s the Gulf Cartel has been Mexico’s leading drug trafficking and money laundering organization in the northern part of Tamaulipas.

Costilla inherited the command of the Gulf Cartel from its previous leader, Osiel Cardenas Guillen, who is currently serving a 25-year sentence in a U.S. prison. Cardenas was arrested in 2003 and extradited to Texas in 2007.

According to prosecutors, Costilla-Sanchez was responsible for making strategic decisions and trying to manage the various factions of the Gulf Cartel, including Los Zetas who eventually broke away. Beginning in 1998, Costilla helped the Gulf Cartel move tons of cocaine and marijuana into the country through the international bridges in Hidalgo and Cameron County, as well as through the waters of the Rio Grande and through the Gulf of Mexico into the Texas coast.

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Another fugitive Mexican governor faces new charges in U.S.

(BREITBART) — by Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby

MCALLEN, Texas — A cartel-linked fugitive Mexican governor who continues to be on the run is now facing additional charges after authorities unsealed a new indictment.

Breitbart Texas learned that federal prosecutors recently obtained a second superseding indictment against fugitive former Tamaulipas Governor Eugenio Hernandez Flores accusing him of multiple money laundering and bank fraud charges.
Video Families separated by U.S.-Mexican border meet at the fence

Federal authorities listed Hernandez as a fugitive in 2015 when they unsealed an indictment accusing him of conspiring to launder illicit sums of money and of funneling ill-gotten funds into the U.S.

The allegations point to Hernandez using a network of individuals to funnel embezzled funds and cartel bribes. The original indictment also includes his brother in law Oscar Manuel Gomez Guerra.

While listed as a fugitive in the U.S., Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (PGR) confirmed on Monday that they do not have an arrest warrant for him in Mexico. Breitbart Texas published a leaked document that proves that the State of Tamaulipas under a previous administration had been assigning state cops to serve as the personal bodyguards for Hernandez and another fugitive governor named Tomas Yarrington. Despite being wanted by the U.S. Department of Justice, he continues to make public appearances in Mexico.

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