U.S. citizen charged with violating the Kingpin Act
Stepson
of Mexican drug kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero transferred property into his name to evade Treasury
Department sanctions program
NEW
YORK –
A complaint was unsealed yesterday in the Eastern District of New York
charging Bryant Espinoza Aguilar, the stepson of Sinaloa Cartel leader and
notorious fugitive Rafael Caro Quintero, with conspiring to commit
violations of the Kingpin Act, an economic sanctions program against
narcotics traffickers that is administered and enforced by the Office of
Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of Treasury. Specifically,
Espinoza Aguilar is charged with assisting Caro Quintero and his common law
wife by putting their assets in his own name, thereby violating OFAC’s prohibition on U.S. Citizens from conducting
financial transactions with specially designated narcotics traffickers.
The
complaint was announced by DEA Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea, U.S.
Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Richard P. Donoghue, Homeland Security Investigations New York
Field Office Special Agent-in-Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh, New York City
Police Commissioner Dermot F. Shea, and New York State Police
Superintendent Keith M. Corlett announced the
charge.
According
to court filings, OFAC designated Caro Quintero
as a specially designated narcotics trafficker in 2000, and designated Caro
Quintero’s wife as a specially designated narcotics trafficker in 2016. The
OFAC designations stem from Caro Quintero’s
criminal history as the leader of the Caro Quintero drug trafficking
organization, a faction of the Mexican organized crime syndicate known as
the Sinaloa Cartel. Between January 1980 and January 2017, Caro Quintero
led a continuing criminal enterprise responsible for importing into the
United States and distributing massive amounts of illegal narcotics and
conspiring to murder persons who posed a threat to his narcotics
enterprise. The murder conspiracy includes Caro Quintero’s kidnapping and
murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena
in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, in February 1985.
On
August 9, 2013, a Mexican tribunal ruled that Caro Quintero could be
released from custody because he had been tried improperly in a federal
tribunal, rather than a state tribunal. The Mexican tribunal’s finding was
later overturned, but Caro Quintero remains at large as a fugitive from
Mexican and U.S. justice.
The
complaint charges Espinoza Aguilar transferred property owned by his mother
into his own name and bribed a public official to change the name of the
property’s owner on public registry documents to protect the property from
being restrained as a result his mother’s OFAC
designation.
“On
February 7, 1985, DEA was forever changed when Special Agent Enrique “Kiki”
Camarena was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in
Guadalajara, Mexico,” said DEA Acting Administrator Shea. “We will never
forget his sacrifice and remain steadfast in our pursuit of the man
responsible for his death, Rafael Caro Quintero, and those that continue to
protect and enable his criminal activities. Let today’s action be a clear
message to Caro Quintero, his family, and his criminal associates — we will
stop at nothing in our pursuit for justice for SA Camarena.”
“As
alleged, the defendant acted as a straw man to protect property purchased
with the illicit, blood-stained proceeds of his stepfather’s drug
trafficking empire from being seized by the government,” said U.S. Attorney
Donoghue. “This Office and our partners at the
Drug Enforcement Administration are using every legal measure at our
disposal to hold accountable those enablers of Caro Quintero and bring them
to justice.” Mr. Donoghue expressed his grateful
appreciation to the DEA’s Raleigh Division Office for its assistance on the
case.
“While
his stepfather, a Sinaloa Cartel leader, was specially designated by OFAC as a narcotics trafficker twenty years ago,
Espinoza Aguilar is alleged to have violated the Kingpin Act by
transferring his stepfather’s assets into his name, seeking to evade the
sanctions program,” said HSI Special
Agent-in-Charge Fitzhugh. “HSI’s partnership with
the DEA and its Strike Force is one in which collaboration is key, and will
continue to focus on arresting those who pursue ways to circumvent the law
and hide their criminal acts.”
“I
commend the dedicated teamwork of the New York Strike Force which was
instrumental in working to bring this suspect to justice. This defendant
attempted to protect and hide the profits of dangerous narcotics that were
our communities, profits made at the expense of the safety of our
communities. We will continue to be vigilant in working together with our
law enforcement partners to keep our neighborhoods safe, to keep harmful
narcotics off our streets and those who commit these types of crimes, or
protect those who do, are held accountable,” said NYSP
Superintendent Corlett.
“This
case is another example of our joint responsibilities to eradicate
international drug trafficking. Our NYPD detectives, and state and local
partners, stop at nothing to stem the flow of illegal narcotics,” said NYPD
Commissioner Shea.
The
investigation was led by the New York Strike Force, a crime-fighting unit
comprising federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies supported by
the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and the New York/New Jersey
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. The Strike Force is based at the
DEA’s New York Division and includes agents and officers of the DEA, New
York City Police Department, New York State Police, Homeland Security
Investigations, U.S. Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation
Division, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Customs
and Border Protection, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Marshals Service, New York
National Guard, Clarkstown Police Department,
U.S. Coast Guard, Port Washington Police Department and New York State
Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
The
charges in the complaint are allegations, and the defendant is presumed
innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The
government’s case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s
International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section. Assistant United
States Attorneys Michael Robotti and Erin Reid
are in charge of the prosecution.
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