Javier Villarreal Ex Treasurer of Coahuila disappears from prison in San Antonio

Borderland Beat by DD

" Javier Villarreal Ex Treasurer of Coahuila disappears from prison in San Antonio"

That was the headline in Vanguardia, a regional newspaper in Saltillo, Coahuila.  “there is no record of him in the Texas prison, the case is reserved and witnesses saw him free". 

Wile he was still Treasurer of Coahuila

That got my attention.   He is still a pretty slippery character.

  

Villarreal, a former computer equipment salesman who went into government service in 2008, was arrested in Mexico in October 2011 and was freed after posting bail of 10 million pesos,    Villarreal and at least six other men face charges linked to the more than $3 billion in debt racked up by the Coahuila government during the administration of former Gov. Humberto Moreira.

Villarreal is accused of falsifying documents involving $325 million in bank loans to the state shortly before Moreira resigned to become national president of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

State police arrested Villarreal and another former Coahuila official Oct. 28, 2011, charging them in connection with suspicious loans. Villarreal was released on bail within hours after being detained.

But Villarreal evidently had no intention of hanging around to see what would happen to him in Mexico.  He knew there would have to be a lot of explaining to do about Coahuila’s debt mushrooming from $27 Million dollars to $3 Billion dollars during the administration of Governor Humberto Moreira during which time he was State Treasurer.  That is a increase in the states debt by 9,800 percent.    A third of Coahuila’s debt is in the form of short-term obligations.

Rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Coahuila’s debt five levels, noting that the state’s obligations were equal to 260 percent of total 2011 revenues.

Before he left office he did accomplish having the financial records for the state for the year 2010 sealed until the year 2019.

He did the only sensible thing.  He jumped bail in Mexico.

Even though he was under indictment in Mexico related to fraud charges and was only free on bail, Villarreal obtained a visa from the US and fled across the border.    He obtained the visa through a program that allows foreigners who invest between $500,000 and $1 million to enter the U.S. 

He had invested a hell of  lot more than that, though it was ill gotten gains he stole from the state of Coahuila.  But evidently no one from the State Department asked about the source of his funds to make the investments. 

Ironically he was arrested near Tyler, Texas (East Texas) in Feb. 2012 after being stopped on a traffic violation and the state trooper found $67,000 cash and a shotgun in his Mercedes SUV.   

After being taken to Homeland Security facility, he was released.   He has friends in high places.   Days after that episode had made the headlines officials in Mexico must have figured out Villarreal was on the run and they issued an Interpol warrant for his arrest.   

In the Spring of 2012 the US federal government initiated forfeiture procedures to confiscate millions of dollars of cash and property Villareal owned in San Antonio and south Texas.  The state of Texas joined in the quest seeking forfeitures. 

He now had the Interpol warrant facing him, several federal and civil suits in the forfeiture cases and federal criminal charges based on the money laundering allegation followed shortly thereafter.  He was on the lam and a fugitive again.

Surprising everyone, he voluntarily surrendered himself to federal officials in El  Paso Texas in Feb. of this year.  Prosecutors allege he laundered in Texas millions of dollars, the proceeds of drug trafficking, bribery, embezzlement and fraud. Villarreal faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, but court documents in the case did not detail the allegations against him.

He waived a detention hearing was ordered held without bail.  That point will be interesting as will be shown below.

After his arrest

 That is where things stood until I saw the story in Vanguardia on Sat. Dec. 6 that Villarreal is no longer imprisoned in jails in the counties of Guadalupe and Bexar, in San Antonio, Texas, according to a search in the records of both prisons.

Vanguardia also reported that the judge in the case had sealed the records in the case and placed a “gag order” on all the participant in the proceeding.

The periodical reported;

"'There is no record of him in jail', responded via phone an official of the jail of Bexar County. . There is no trace of Villarreal Hernández in the prison of Guadalupe County, not by the number of detention, nor by his name and date of birth.

"To try to locate his whereabouts , Vanguard contacted Darly Fields, spokesman for the office of the Attorney-General in West Texas.-‘No records were found of Javier Villarreal in jail’,  was he given his freedom?-, ‘are you challenged — I cannot comment, or anything – neither can i deny,’ we were told.-

"We (Vanuardia) told the voice on the other end of line ‘witnesses of our paper saw him shopping in San Antonio.’  I have nothing to comment’ - reiterated the spokesman and terminated the call.”

The story continued;

"Prior to this research, we contacted the staff of Aeronautics of Saltillo, who often provided services to Villarreal when he was Treasurer of Coahuila, and they told Vanguard they had  greeted when he was shopping during the 'good weekend' (Thanksgiving) at a Best Buy in San Antonio, Texas.

Until this moment, information of the alleged departure of Javier Villarreal from prison has not been confirmed by the Prosecutor in charge of the case, or by the defense lawyer, Michael Wynne, and that they are legally barred from making public statements in the case.

The last thing was revealed about the ex was last October, when Héctor Javier Villarreal Hernández pleaded guilty to the offences of money-laundering and fraud against the United States Government, agreeing to deliver to the County of Bexar 6.5 million dollars in accounts, as well as various real estate.  However, but the judge has not pronounced  sentence, and now it will be impossible to know their legal status, because, as noted earlier, the case was classified as reserved.”  (end of Vanguardia article)

Curious as I am, I did a little more research and found this in the San Antonio Express;

Mexican official accused of laundering money in Texas to give up $2M more

Ex-Coahuila official quietly released on bail

The former treasurer of the Mexican state of Coahuila, recently released on bail while his criminal case continues under seal, has agreed to give up $2.3 million to the U.S. government.

In documents filed Friday at the federal court in Corpus Christi, Hector Javier Villarreal agreed to turn over $2.3 million in a Bermuda bank account that prosecutors said contained money stolen from the border state’s coffers.

Villarreal was quietly released from the Guadalupe County Jail in October, about a month after he pleaded guilty in a San Antonio federal court to one count each of money laundering conspiracy and conspiring to transport stolen money in foreign commerce. Since then, the criminal case against Villarreal has proceeded in secret, without any of the court filings made public. It is unclear when he will be sentenced. (end of SA Express story).

At least it sounds like he still has money for Christmas shopping on “Black Friday” at Best Buy.  And we don’t have to worry about Humberto Moreira (you might have heard him referred to as “Governor Z”).  He has not been charged with any crime, nor is he under any known investigation although there is a lot of evidence that he was responsible for much of the looting of Coahuila’s treasury.  He has threatened a defamation suit against Forbes magazine for placing him on the “Most Corrupt” list.   

 He still owns his homes and commercial properties in San Antonio and ranches in South Texas.

It is reported that he has returned from his luxury sabbatical in Spain and is currently relaxing in Cuernavaca.  Probably he is getting ready for a big Christmas.  He always liked to do things in a big way