Key witness testifies about bribing ex-Mexico security chief

ABC News, 02/13/2023

NEW YORK — A key prosecution witness testified Monday that he delivered millions of dollars in payoffs destined for former Mexican public safety chief Genaro García Luna but that the two didn’t directly discuss what the money was allegedly buying: impunity for the infamous Sinaloa cartel.

Former member Jesús “El Rey” Zambada testified at García Luna’s U.S. drug trafficking trial four years after catalyzing the case by airing allegations about García Luna at the trial of Sinaloa kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. García Luna was subsequently arrested; he denies the charges.

Zambada is the latest in a series of ex-cartel members and admittedly corrupt former law enforcement officials to testify against García Luna. The former cartel member echoed descriptions of cocaine shipments by planes, trains and even submarines, abetted by police and officials under García Luna’s oversight — and, Zambada said he was told, by the federal police leader-turned-presidential cabinet member himself.

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Se identificó red de corrupción de García Luna por transferencia de 10 mdd: UIF

La Jornada, 09/02/2023

Al dar a conocer detalles sobre el juicio emprendido por el gobierno mexicano contra el ex secretario de Seguridad Pública, Genaro Garcia Luna y otras cinco personas involucradas en una red de empresas familiares mediante el cual incurrieron en delitos de corrupción, lavado de dinero y delincuencia organizada, el titular de Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera de la Secretaría de Hacienda, Pablo Gómez, informó que están involucrados 745 millones 879 mil 384 dólares que se litiga en un juzgado de Florida.

Durante la conferencia presidencial, Gómez dijo que bajo auspicia de este conglomerado de empresas familiares se obtuvieron 40 contratos con diversos órganos de seguridad que involucran a 30 empresas mediante lo cual obtuvieron estos recursos los cuales se trasladaron a paraísos fiscales del Caribe, especialmente Barbados para triangularlos posteriormente hacia Miami. Entre los coacusados se encuentra también la esposa de García Luna, Linda Cristina Pereyra; Samuel Weinberg López; Jonhatan Alexis Weinberg y Silvia Pinto de Weinberg.

Gómez detalló que estos recursos extraídos ilícitamente al erario mexicano fueron transferidos al extranjero mediante mecanismos dirigidos a ocultar el rastro vía paraísos fiscales y adquisición de bienes muebles e inmuebles y otros activos” como mecanismo de lavado de dinero para no dejar rastro de estos recursos.

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Ex-president Calderón denies claim he ordered support for El Chapo

Mexico News Daily, 02/08/2023

Former president Felipe Calderón has rejected an accusation that he ordered a former governor of Nayarit to support convicted drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Edgar Veytia, a former attorney general of Nayarit who in 2019 was sentenced to 20 years in jail in the United States for drug trafficking, made the claim Tuesday at the New York trial of ex-federal security minister Genaro García Luna, who is accused of colluding with the Sinaloa Cartel, the criminal organization once headed by Guzmán.

Veytia said that Calderón and García Luna — who served as the ex-president’s security minister between 2006 and 2012 — met with former Nayarit governor Ney González in 2011 and told him to support “El Chapo” and his allies in a turf war against the Beltrán Leyva Cartel.

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La DEA confirma que tenía información sobre sobornos a García Luna desde que estaba en el Gabinete de Calderón

El País, 02/02/2023

La DEA empezó a seguir los pasos de Genaro García Luna desde hace más de una década. Así lo confirmó este jueves Miguel Madrigal, un agente antinarcóticos llamado a declarar en el juicio en Nueva York contra el secretario de Seguridad Pública del Gobierno de Felipe Calderón (2006-2012). Después de que fue detenido Sergio Villarreal Barragán El Grande en septiembre de 2010, Madrigal se entrevistó con el capo por varias horas y dio información sobre sobornos que supuestamente recibía el funcionario del Cartel de los Beltrán Leyva. No precisó la fecha de la reunión. “Detalló información sobre esos tratos”, relató el funcionario, que estuvo entre 2008 y 2015 en la oficina de la Agencia en Ciudad de México.

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Corruption case announced against jailed Mexican ex-official

11/16/2022

Source: AP News

Mexico’s anti-money-laundering agency said Tuesday it has found evidence of corruption on the part of the country’s former attorney general.

Former Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam has been jailed since August on charges he committed abuses during the investigation into the disappearance of 43 students in 2014.

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Courier for Mexican cartel pleads guilty to money laundering

08/24/2022

Source: The Washignton Post

A courier working in Virginia for one of the most violent drug cartels in Mexico pleaded guilty to a money-laundering charge on Tuesday.

Jorge Orozco-Sandoval, 35, admitted in federal court in Alexandria that he dropped off nearly $320,000 in three separate installments at a Target store in Front Royal, Va., expecting the funds to be sent to Mexico to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). But he actually handed the bags of money to an undercover law enforcement officer, according to documents filed with his guilty plea.

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Qué significa que el caso Ayotzinapa haya sido calificado de “crimen de Estado” en México y qué puede pasar ahora

24/08/2022

Fuente: BBC News

El vendaval que supuso el último informe de la Comisión para la Verdad sobre el caso Ayotzinapa dejó secuelas en México y la pregunta ahora es qué otras consecuencias tendrá. 

Solo horas después de darse a conocer el informe, se detuvo por presunta desaparición forzada y tortura al exprocurador (fiscal) general de la República, Jesús Murillo Karam, creador de la versión conocida como “verdad histórica”, que explicaba qué ocurrió con los 43 estudiantes desaparecidos en 2014 y que fue descartada años después por la investigación.

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Under pressure to resign, PRI boss also under investigation for several crimes

06/16/2022

Source: Mexico News Daily

Alejandro Moreno’s tenure as national leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) – and perhaps his entire political career – appears to be hanging by a thread.

Less than a month after making headlines for a callous remark he made about journalists while governor of Campeche, Moreno, widely known as “Alito,” is facing pressure to quit as PRI chief as well as accusations of illicit enrichment, tax fraud, money laundering and other crimes.

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AMLO urges Pemex and CFE to finish cleaning up corruption

The state-owned firms have a long history of irregularities

Date: March 18th, 2022

Source: Mexico News Daily

President López Obrador sent a blunt message to the heads of Pemex and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) on Friday: immediately end any corruption that still plagues the state-owned firms.

Speaking in Minatitlán, Veracruz, at a ceremony to mark the 84th anniversary of the nationalization of the Mexican oil industry, López Obrador instructed Pemex CEO Octavio Romero and CFE director Manuel Bartlett not to give his adversaries any pretext to criticize the government.

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Mexico arrests state security chief on torture charges

Date: February 2, 2022

Source: ABC News

MEXICO CITY — Federal agents arrested the security chief for the central Mexico state of Aguascalientes on Wednesday on charges of torture, state authorities said.

Porfirio Javier Sánchez Mendoza had served in the state position since 2018. Earlier he held positions in the federal Attorney General’s Office and the now disbanded Federal Police, where he was director of undercover operations.

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