Charges filed against 40 in international money-laundering scheme

SAN DIEGO — Forty suspects were charged in a federal court here Thursday in an international moneylaundering scheme that involved tens of millions of dollars in drug money.

A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of California said 21 of the 40 San Diego defendants are in custody and at least 25 of 35 out-of-district defendants are in custody. Overall, 75 defendants were charged nationwide.

The main defendant in San Diego is Jose Roberto Lopez-Albarran. He is accused of being a money broker for a Mexico-based international money laundering organization. Lopez-Albarran, along with other members of the organization, allegedly laundered tens of millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds from the United States to Mexico between 2015 and 2018.

As a result of the investigation, law enforcement seized more than $6 million in U.S. currency as well as 95 kilograms of methamphetamine, 63 kilograms of heroin, 10 kilograms of fentanyl, 92 kilograms of cocaine, 252 kilograms of marijuana, worth millions of dollars on the streets, and 20 firearms, including semiautomatic assault rifles and handguns.

Lopez-Albarran reportedly oversaw a network of coconspirators to assist in transferring millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds from drug dealers in the United States to drug suppliers in Mexico, including to individuals working for the Sinaloa Cartel.

As part of the investigation, the FBI deployed undercover agents and task force officers from the San Diego District Attorney’s Office, Bureau of Investigation, Chula Vista Police Department, and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office to infiltrate Lopez-Albarran’s organization, and after gaining the trust of the organization, they agreed to pick up bulk currency across the United States for transfer to Mexico.

Over the course of the last two years, undercover agents identified multiple individuals known as “money movers,” people responsible for collecting narcotics proceeds and disposing of those proceeds as directed by either the drug trafficking organization or the money brokers.

Law enforcement then received phone numbers and code words from Lopez-Albarran to contact these money movers to arrange for the delivery of narcotics proceeds. The money movers concealed and transported amounts ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug money at a time, hidden within compartments in vehicles, luggage, duffel bags and shoeboxes. These cash deliveries took place in locations such as parking lots of retail stores, hotels and restaurants across the United States, including ones in San Diego; Los Angeles; Kansas City; New York; Cincinnati; Dayton, Ohio; Lexington, Ky.; Boston; Philadelphia, and Chicago.

By targeting these money movers, law enforcement was able to discover multiple drug trafficking cells across the United States responsible for importing and distributing substantial quantities of fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine.