A former Mexican politician who once served as the interim governor of Coahuila was extradited to Texas to face money laundering conspiracy and bank fraud charges.
On Tuesday, Mexican federal authorities turned over Jorge Torrez Lopez to U.S. counterparts as part of an extradition agreement. While U.S. court records remain sealed, Torres Lopez is the target of an ongoing investigation by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) into an alleged large-scale money laundering scheme involving top Mexican officials.
In 2013, a federal grand jury in Texas indicted Torres Lopez on laundering conspiracy and bank fraud charges until Mexican authorities arrested him in Puerto Vallarta.
Torres Lopez served as the Governor of Coahuila from January 2011 to December 2011 after his predecessor, Humberto Moreira, left his seat to serve as the head of the Revolutionary Institutional Party.
Humberto Moreira has also been the target of a long-term HSI investigation tied to alleged money laundering and cartel bribes.
In 2016, Spanish authorities arrested Moreira as part of a money-laundering investigation. Information that became public at the time revealed the former governor as a close ally of Los Zetas Cartel. Spanish authorities eventually released Moreira after he was able to prove the funds he had with him in Europe were legally obtained. Regarding the alleged organized crime links, Spanish authorities claimed that was for the U.S. and Mexico to prosecute. After his release, Moreira moved back to Mexico claiming exoneration, however, the Spanish case has since reopened.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.