BROWNSVILLE, TX - On March 9, Stephen Roland Reyna, 36, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Rolando Rivera to 20 months in federal prison, after he pleaded guilty to money laundering for a drug cartel.
In a news release, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) stated:
Reyna was the manager of a Wells Fargo branch in Harlingen. While serving in that position and utilizing his position and knowledge of the banking industry, Reyna assisted a drug trafficking organization to launder $410,000 in drug sale proceeds.
The organization would transport multi-kilogram cocaine loads from the Rio Grande Valley to northern states. Upon successful delivery, thousands of dollars in drug proceeds would then be dispersed through multiple Wells Fargo bank accounts in the northern states.
Reyna was actually the second Wells Fargo employee to be sentenced for money laundering for a drug cartel (in different parts of the country) within a 10-day period. The two cases were not related…
On February 27, Leopoldo Lora-Aguilera, 58, was sentenced by a federal judge in San Diego to 33 years in prison following his convictions on money laundering and bank fraud.
Lora-Aguilera, working as an accounts manager (or “person banker”) for Wells Fargo. Laundered millions of dollars in drug profits for the Tijuana-based Arrellano-Felix Cartel.
A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office stated:
Aguilera abused his position of trust as a personal banker with Wells Fargo Bank by opening bank accounts with false identities and wire transferring millions of dollars to Mexico. Aguilera conducted these transactions in exchange for thousands of dollars in cash payments from the criminal organization. The FBl's investigation linked these funds to the sale of narcotics by a Mexican drug cartel, specifically the sale of multi-kilogram amounts of fentanyl in the Midwest.
Aguilera admitted to opening 26 bank accounts for the money laundering organization, including eleven that were created by Aguilera using fictitious identities. Specifically, Aguilera used his position as a personal banker with Wells Fargo Bank to knowingly enter false names, passport numbers, and dates of birth on the fictitious bank accounts. These 11 fictitious accounts alone were used by the criminal organization to wire transfer a total of $3.8 million to Mexico.
Despite the serious nature of these charges, which further demonstrates the growing influence the Mexican drug cartels have inside the United States, these two cases have received only very limited, local coverage.
The MSM has a long history of burying stories which show the banking industry’s involvement in drug trafficking.
Of course, both the banks along with the MSM are complicit in keeping the border unprotected and the deadly drugs flowing over that ‘virtual speed bump,” which was once the U.S./Mexican border.
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