Disgraced Attorney Known as "King Midas" Gets 15 years for Laundering Millions from the Sinaloa Cartel

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

An attorney who laundered millions of dollars for the violent Mexican drug cartel led by “El Chapo” Guzman was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in federal prison on a money-laundering conspiracy charge.

Juan Manuel Álvarez Inzunza, 40, received the punishment on Friday, after being arrested in 2016 in Mexico, where he was detained until his extradition to the U.S. last year. The disgraced lawyer admitted he laundered money for the Sinaloa Cartel from at least December 2013 to August 2015, and told a federal judge in San Diego, California, that he was “deeply remorseful,” and thanked the US government for capturing him, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Roughly a decade ago, a cartel figure entered Álvarez Inzunza’s private civil law practice in Mexico. “The wrong client came in, and he listened to them,” his attorney said Friday during a sentencing hearing. That launched Álvarez Inzunza’s own criminal career as a high-ranking money launderer who cleaned millions of dollars in drug proceeds for the violent organization.

In a news release, prosecutors said Álvarez Inzunza “regularly received requests” to arrange the collection of drug proceeds in the U.S. that originated “from the top leadership of the cartel — including Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán.”

According to his attorney, Álvarez Inzunza — nicknamed “El Rey Midas” after the mythical Greek king who could turn everything he touched into gold — engaged in criminal activity “while trying to provide for his family,” but ended up doing the opposite and “destroying his family.” 

Prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum that Álvarez Inzunza was the lead defendant in a long-running cartel money-laundering investigation that used wiretaps to intercept Blackberry messages. From those messages, federal agents determined that Álvarez Inzunza was organizing the transfer of millions of dollars in drug proceeds from the U.S. to Mexico, Colombia, and other nations.

“Agents used these intercepted messages to seize at least $3.5 million in bulk currency before it left the country, and other intercepts showed (Álvarez Inzunza) orchestrating the transfer of millions more,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Zipp wrote in the sentencing document.

Zipp said in court Friday that the messages also showed the defendant orchestrated small-scale drug smuggling operations across the U.S.-Mexico border.

“This defendant is nothing like” the low-level drug couriers often charged in U.S. District Court, Zipp argued Friday. “He is multiple layers above the typical drug courier ... at the higher levels of (the) cartel.”

Zipp said authorities still don’t fully understand all the ways Álvarez Inzunza was able to move money out of the U.S., but said he used “several layers of subcontractors.” In court and in the sentencing document, the prosecutor said that from his home base in Culiacán, the defendant would receive orders from high-level cartel bosses, and then relay the orders to an associate in Colombia. That associate would then coordinate for lower-level couriers in the U.S. to pick up large amounts of cash.

Intercepted messages led federal agents in late 2013 to pick off $250,000 in drug proceeds in New York, according to court documents. Two months later agents seized another $425,000 in New York and Boston, and a few months later seized $400,000 in Detroit. Zipp told Sabraw that Álvarez Inzunza was the leader of his particular laundering cell.

“Today’s sentencing is the result of relentless work by HSI targeting the Sinaloa Cartel,” said Chad Plantz, special agent in charge of HSI Diego. “This multiyear investigation highlights HSI’s unwavering commitment to pursue cartel members responsible for importing dangerous drugs into our neighborhoods. This lengthy sentence serves as a resounding message that transnational criminal organizations are being continuously investigated by HSI and their leaders will be brought to justice.”

Álvarez Inzunza is likely to receive credit for the time he has already spent in custody, meaning he’s likely to serve about nine more years in federal custody, and then will be deported back to Mexico upon his release.

Source DOJ, New York Post, San Diego Tribune