An Arabian-inspired mansion, with expansive pools and dining rooms, balconies facing a marina of private yachts, and a value of at least $4.2 million. An apartment on a private island valued at more than 2.2 million dollars. A unit on the thirteenth floor of a luxury, marble-floored, fully-furnished, million-dollar ocean-view condominium. These are just some of the 19 properties linked to the Genaro García Luna network that the US authorities have already insured in Florida. This was announced by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the anti-money laundering arm of the Government of Mexico, which promotes a civil trial for corruption against the Secretary of Public Security in the Administration of Felipe Calderón (2006-2012). . The FIU claims that the assets are worth $17.9 million and that four of the apartments are linked to Cristina Pereyra, the wife of the former drug czar.
“During the time that Genaro García Luna held his position as Secretary of Public Security of the Federal Government and after that, he wove a network of corruption and money laundering for personal benefit and that of his close associates,” read a statement from the FIU. The Mexican authorities assure that the former official was the head of a family conglomerate that obtained public contracts for more than 745 million dollars and that channeled the diverted resources to tax havens to hide the money trail. The former official’s network of associates also used shell companies to acquire luxurious properties in the Miami metropolitan area, where the former Federal Police chief resided after leaving office.
The Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador filed a civil lawsuit in September 2021 before a Florida court. This process is independent of the criminal trial in New York in which García Luna was found guilty of drug trafficking and organized crime on February 21. The objective of the Mexican authorities is to recover the money, which left the public coffers under suspicion of corruption, bribery and complicity networks that facilitated the diversions. There are also three other processes open in the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic. “It is about returning to the people of Mexico what was stolen,” said the president at his press conference this Thursday. “These assets, it is presumed, were the result of corruption,” he added.
Four of the 19 insured properties are in the name of the company Delta Integrator LLC, registered and directed by Cristina Pereyra since 2013. That same year, according to the Florida business registry, García Luna himself was added to the company’s board of directors. Between September and November 2018, Delta Integrator purchased five luxury condominium apartments in Aventura, a small town outside of Miami that is famous for having the third-largest shopping center in the United States. The transactions were for nearly $4 million, according to the FIU’s lawsuit. In 2021, one of the five apartments was sold for $550,000. The other four are already under the control of the US authorities until the charges are resolved. There are more than 40 properties and dozens of vehicles under scrutiny in the FIU lawsuit.
Delta Integrator was also used by Garcia Luna and his wife for the purchase of various classic and luxury vehicles, according to the lawsuit. The list includes several Ford Mustang models from the late 1960s and early 1970s, a 1975 Mercury Montego, two Harley Davidson motorcycles, and a Mercedes Benz GL450 pickup. Pereyra was the only witness for the defense in the trial against her husband in New York, called to testify to answer various questions about her heritage. She liked old cars, sometimes she repaired them with a brother of hers, ”she said on the stand. “We liked motorcycles and had the opportunity to buy and enjoy them to some degree, although not very often,” she added.
Judge Brian Cogan ordered that all evidence about the former official’s fortune in Miami be excluded from the criminal trial for drug trafficking and organized crime, arguing that prosecutors failed to prove that the assets were obtained with drug money. Pereyra, on the other hand, is one of the people sued by the Government of Mexico in the civil trial, along with her husband. Six other García Luna partners are also under scrutiny, as well as 44 companies headed by the former Secretary of Public Security or his closest circle.
The FIU pushed for the blocking of 595 bank accounts linked to the García Luna network between 2019 and 2021. The amount originally withheld from all accounts was 25.9 million pesos and just over $140,000. Thanks to protections, close to 19 million pesos and 50,000 dollars have already been released in favor of the defendants. The blockade remains only on 6.9 million pesos and 90,000 dollars, according to a statement from the Government of Mexico. It is approximately 30% of the money that was frozen by order of the authorities at first.
“As for Mexico, the criminal proceedings are ongoing and the Government hopes that they will also include embezzlement and improper contracting committed through corruption networks headed by García Luna for more than 20 years, including within these the six years of the previous Government, when he was no longer a public servant ”, settles the FIU. It is expected that García Luna will be sentenced at the end of June for the drug trafficking case in New York. He faces a prison sentence of 20 years to life. The civil trial is still open, moving on another track and includes more than 700 court documents filed in Florida. If it is verified that the former secretary embezzled and laundered money from the treasury, the Government of López Obrador will seek to return the funds to the country.
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