Eighth Member of International Money Laundering Organization Sentenced in $19 Million Dollar Scheme
SAN DIEGO – Manuel Reynoso Garcia was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William Q. Hayes to 78 months in prison for his role as a leader in an international money laundering organization that laundered more than $19 million in narcotics proceeds from the United States to Mexico.
The multi-year investigation led by the FBI’s Cross Border Violence Task Force targeted Reynoso as one of the key leaders of the Tijuana- and San Diego-based money laundering organization. Reynoso was the last of eight former members of the criminal organization sentenced.
Earlier this year, Judge Hayes sentenced Reynoso’s co-defendants to prison, including Estefania Plascencia Ponce to 57 months; Carlos Ballesteros Robles to 43 months; Gilberto Beltran Salazar to 46 months; Perla Alejandra Perez Guirado to 30 months; Joaquin Enrique Ramirez Calva to 37 months; Humberto Ruiz Bernadac to 24 months; and Luis Fernando Figueroa to time served. One final defendant, Manuel Alejandro Garcia remains a fugitive in Mexico.
According to the plea agreement and other public records, the money laundering organization was composed of a network of co-conspirators who coordinated the pick up, deposit, laundering, and transfer of millions of dollars of narcotics proceeds to Mexico-based drug trafficking organizations to include the Sinaloa Cartel. The organization used sophisticated methods to avoid law enforcement detection, such as encrypted messaging applications, and employed shell corporations complete with fictitious websites in an attempt to disguise their criminal activity as legitimate business.
Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/eighth-member-international-money-laundering-organization-sentenced-19-million-dollar
