Overview
- U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell handed down a 140‑month sentence in Washington after a June guilty plea to conspiring to launder millions in cartel proceeds.
- Prosecutors sought 14 years while the defense asked for seven, and the court also imposed three years of supervised release.
- He was arrested in November 2024 in Riverside, California, where he lived under a false identity in a $1.2 million home purchased with laundered funds.
- Court records describe more than $2.2 million in bulk cash and two untraceable firearms at the residence, which he agreed to forfeit along with other valuables.
- Authorities say he staged his death in Mexico and is linked to fugitive CJNG leader El Mencho through his longtime girlfriend, with a DEA affidavit tying him to a 2021 Navy kidnapping case and the U.S. offering up to $15 million for El Mencho; the cartel was designated a foreign terrorist organization in February.