U.S. federal agents arrested a former Mexican official with strong political connections on Thursday night in San Antonio, Texas. The man was arrested on money laundering charges along with 15 other people.
Federal authorities unsealed a 20-page indictment on Friday morning that listed more than 21 defendants, including Sergio Guadalupe Adame Ochoa. The Mexican official was a former member of Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office. He had gone to work in the Mexican State of Jalisco. Adame had been a link of sorts connecting various Mexican politicians and informants with the U.S. Government in ongoing investigations that include politicians and cartel figures, according to Mexican law enforcement individuals who spoke with Breitbart Texas on condition of anonymity.
A newly unsealed indictment provides a different story as to what Adame had been doing while helping the U.S. Government. The Mexican official is accused of wire fraud involving a bank, the federal indictment reveals. In four separate counts, Adame is alleged to have told Texas Regional Bank in McAllen that he earned $500,000 working for the U.S. Government while trying to get a loan to refinance the purchase of a property in Mission known as Riverside Plaza. Court records reveal that Adame is both a U.S. citizen and a Mexican citizen. According to the indictment, Adame appears to have allegedly made the same request to the bank four times — twice in 2007 and twice in 2009. One of the technicalities used to charge him is that he claimed that his $500,000 yearly income was not taxable when in fact it was.
The indictment lists 20 other individuals charges in drug conspiracy and other money laundering conspiracy schemes. Sources within Mexican law enforcement confirmed that some of the individuals named in the indictment are tied in one fashion or another to the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion. One of the schemes listed involves the purchase of quarter horses at prices ranging from $5,000 to $9,000 in cash. Adame is not named in those other conspiracies.
Federal agents carried out raids in the Rio Grande Valley on Thursday night focusing on homes in the Mission area and the western part of Hidalgo County. The 13 individuals arrested in South Texas are all part of the Villarreal Arelis family. Law enforcement officials consulted by Breitbart Texas revealed that those individuals are based out of Guadalajara, Jalisco, and the ringleader is believed to have fled to that area. The ringleader is described as the father of most of the Villarreal Arelis clan, but his name has been blacked out of the indictment.
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