OAKLAND — In the latest federal law enforcement action targeting Bay Area drug trafficking organizations, the owners and employees of two Oakland money transfer businesses have been charged with laundering drug proceeds via wire transfers to Mexico.
The Internal Revenue Service and Drug Enforcement Administration-led investigation concluded that the group was working together to transfer drug proceeds to Mexico and other parts of the United States on behalf of drug traffickers. The group used an identity theft scheme to obscure where the money was coming from and used multiple recipients to avoid law enforcement scrutiny that can come with massive wire transfers, according to the criminal complaint.
One of the men, identified only as a Honduran national arrested on suspicion of dealing drugs in December 2020, is estimated to have laundered $109,000 in the four months leading to his arrest. He reportedly told authorities he would sometimes arrive with stacks of cash so large they couldn’t fit through the cashier window.