80-year-old Tijuana man gets 7 years for drug money laundering scheme with attempt to buy California bank
Prosecutors say Pablo Hernandez is a drug broker and money launderer for a trafficking organization considered to be an extension of the Sinaloa Cartel.
A Mexican national has been sentenced to more than 7 years in prison for his role in the laundering of drug trafficking proceeds as part of a scheme that included an attempt to buy a Westminster bank.
Pablo Hernandez, 80, of Tijuana was sentenced after pleading guilty to violating RICO – the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
According to his plea deal, Hernandez is a drug broker and money launderer for a drug trafficking organization that prosecutors consider to be an extension of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The court papers describe Hernandez meeting several times with someone he believed could facilitate, for a fee, the transfer of millions of dollars in U.S. currency from Mexico into the United States. The person he was speaking to was actually a confidential source, according to federal prosecutors.
Hernandez was also associated with a business named Credes or Credito that prosecutors allege was responsible for bringing millions of dollars into the United States from Mexico. According to the plea deal, the money was laundered through Westminster-based Saigon National Bank.
When an account at Saigon National Bank that Hernandez and others had used to deposit $2 million in cash was shut down, prosecutors allege that Hernandez and his co-defendants attempted to buy the bank to continue laundering money.
Among those indicted in the alleged scheme is Tu Chau “Bill” Lu, who is identified in court papers as the former CEO of Saigon National Bank. The bank has since changed its name to California National Bank, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors allege that during Hernandez’s conversations with the confidential source he discussed moving money to other countries, but ruled out Panama, since Hernandez indicated to the source that they had lost $100 million that had been confiscated in that country.
Prosecutors have indicted 25 people in connection to the investigation, which they have dubbed “Operation Phantom Bank.” So far, 15 have been convicted.
Lu, the former bank CEO, is still awaiting trial.