Attorney pleads guilty in $52M money laundering scheme for Sinaloa Cartel; another man sought

Alberto David Benguait Jimenez. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of the Treasury) A Mexico City attorney who prosecutors say had a leading role in laundering millions through San Diego-based shell companies has pleaded guilty to federal charges, officials said Friday. Prosecutors say at least $52.7 million generated across the country through the Sinaloa Cartel’s drug trafficking passed through the shell companies, then into Mexican bank accounts controlled by Hector Alejandro Paez Garcia, 43. Employees allegedly travelled to dozens of U.S. cities to pick up cash in amounts of up to $200,000 that were then laundered through the shell companies. Paez was described by the U.S. Attorney’s Office as “serving a managerial role” in the money laundering organization, the target of a long-running FBI investigation that resulted in 11 arrests and the seizure of more than $3.1 million in illicit assets. A DEA operation netted 24 more arrests and asset seizures totaling $450,000. Federal authorities are still searching for one more alleged leader of the organization, Alberto David Benguait Jimenez, also 43. Benguait was sanctioned earlier this year by the U.S. Treasury Department, which said he’s laundered millions on behalf of the cartel and an alleged fentanyl trafficker. Prosecutors say that after 66 of the organization’s bank accounts were seized by federal authorities, Paez oversaw efforts to transfer drug proceeds into cryptocurrency as a means of avoiding law enforcement. “But the FBI was able to infiltrate and take down the (organization’s) cryptocurrency laundering network,” authorities said in a news release. Paez pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court earlier this month. He is due to be sentenced Aug. 15. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Charges have been filed against several other alleged co-conspirators accused of assisting in laundering drug proceeds or acting as cash couriers. Anyone with information concerning Benguait was asked to contact the FBI at 858-320-1800.