Former Governor of Coahuila pleads guilty to money laundering in U.S. courtroom

Saturday, June 20, 2020

A former Mexican border governor, whose short time in office was marred by allegations of massive embezzlement, admitted Wednesday in a Corpus Christi courtroom to laundering money through Texas banks.

Jorge Juan Torres López, 66, served for most of 2011 as the interim governor of Coahuila, a state that borders Texas from west of Laredo to the Big Bend. Torres, who owns a home in the Houston area, is closely associated with Coahuila’s nearly $2 billion debt, dubbed the megadeuda in the Mexican press.

He’s one of several officials and businessmen from the state accused by U.S. authorities of laundering through Texas banks and San Antonio real estate transactions tens of millions of dollars embezzled from the state or collected as bribes.

On Wednesday, he pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy. Torres joined the hearing in U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos’s courtroom via video conferencing from the Aransas County Detention Center, where he’s been held since his extradition last year. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine or twice the value of the money he laundered when he’s sentenced in September, although will likely receive much less under federal sentencing guidelines.

More:
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2020/06/former-governor-of-coahuila-pleads.html

Stealing the tax money demanded by the state from poor workers. This guy truly deserves a swift kick in the pantalones.





Wayne Newton? Jorge Juan Torres López? Separated at birth?