Genaro Garcia Luna, a former senior government official, is currently serving a sentence of over 38 years for accepting bribes.
Thursday’s ruling concluded a civil case initially filed in September 2021 by the Mexican government.
The litigation concentrated on Genaro Garcia Luna, who acted as Mexico’s security chief from 2006 until 2012. Garcia Luna is presently imprisoned in the United States for a span of over 38 years, accused of embezzling millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa cartel.
The Mexican government asserts that Garcia Luna also misappropriated millions of public funds, and has declared its intention to pursue restitution by filing a legal action in Miami, Florida, where it claims some of the illicit activities transpired.
On Thursday, Judge Lisa Walsh in Miami-Dade County mandated Garcia Luna, along with his spouse, Linda Cristina Pereyra, to pay approximately $2.4 billion. Garcia Luna is required to compensate millions, while Pereyra is ordered to pay $1.7 billion.
In its initial 2021 claim, the Mexican government, led at the time by previous President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, accused Garcia Luna, his wife, and their co-defendants of “hiding assets pilfered from the government” and smuggling the funds to locales such as Barbados and the US.
“Under Defendant GARCIA LUNA’s guidance, the misappropriated public assets of MEXICO were utilized to establish a money laundering empire,” the grievance outlined.
It is alleged that these assets were employed to fund “luxurious lifestyles” for Garcia Luna and his co-conspirators, covering real estate investments, bank accounts, and vintage automobiles, including Mustangs from the ’60s and ’70s.
Additionally, Garcia Luna confronted criminal charges for corruption. US officials accused him of embezzling millions while in office in support of the Sinaloa cartel.
Through his tenure with Mexico’s federal police and as its security chief, US prosecutors allege that Garcia Luna leaked sensitive information to the Sinaloa cartel, exposing investigations and the movements of competing criminal gangs.
Garcia Luna was also accused of facilitating the Sinaloa cartel’s cocaine shipments to places like the US, occasionally utilizing Mexico’s federal police as security. Some shipments of cash were reportedly left in hidden spots for him, one of which was near a French restaurant across the street from the US embassy in Mexico City, with $10,000 in $100 bills.
Upon leaving office in 2012, Garcia Luna moved to the US. He denied the allegations against him. His defense lawyers portrayed him as a prosperous businessman living in Florida.
However, in February 2023, a federal jury in Brooklyn, New York, found Garcia Luna guilty of drug-related charges, including international cocaine conspiracy and conspiracy to import cocaine. The following year, in October, he was handed a lengthy prison sentence.
The Mexican government contended in its lawsuit that Garcia Luna was also responsible for a “government-contracting scheme” involving bid-rigging and corrupt deal-making to launder money.
This included contracts for surveillance and communications gear. The Associated Press reported that at least one such contract was falsified and others were overpriced.
Garcia Luna represents the highest-ranking Mexican government official to be found guilty in the US.
