DEA agent accused of conspiring with cartel
JOSHUA GOODMAN
and JIM MUSTIAN
,
MIAMI (AP) — A
once-standout U.S. federal narcotics agent known for spending lavishly on
luxury cars and Tiffany jewelry has been arrested on charges of conspiring to
launder money with the same Colombian drug cartel he was supposed to be
fighting.
Jose Irizarry and his wife were arrested
Friday at their home near San Juan, Puerto Rico, as part of a 19-count federal
indictment that accused the 46-year-old Irizarry of “secretly using his
position and his special access to information” to divert millions in drug
proceeds from the control of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
“It’s a black eye for the DEA to have
one of its own engaged in such a high level of corruption," said Mike Vigil,
the DEA's former Chief of International Operations. "He jeopardized
investigations. He jeopardized other agents and he jeopardized
informants."
Federal prosecutors in Tampa, Florida,
allege the conspiracy not only enriched Irizarry but benefited two unindicted
co-conspirators, neither of whom is named in the indictment. One was employed
as a Colombian public official while the other was described as the head of a
drug trafficking and money laundering organization who became the godfather to
the Irizarry couple's children in 2015, when the DEA agent was posted to the
Colombian resort city of Cartagena at the time.
When The Associated Press revealed the
scale of Irizarry’s alleged wrongdoing last year, it sent shockwaves through
the DEA, where his ostentatious habits and tales of raucous yacht parties with
bikini-clad prostitutes were legendary among agents
But prior to being exposed, Irizarry had
been a model agent, winning awards and praise from his supervisors. After
joining the DEA in Miami 2009, he was entrusted with an undercover money
laundering operation using front companies, shell bank accounts, and couriers.
Irizarry resigned in January 2018 after being reassigned to Washington when his
boss in Colombia became suspicious.
The case has raised
concerns within the DEA that the conspiracy may have compromised undercover
operations and upend criminal cases.
“His fingerprints are all over dozens of
arrests and indictments,” said David S. Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor
in Miami. “It could have a ripple effect and cause courts to re-examine any
case he was involved in.”
Irizarry and his wife posted $10,000
bond each and was released later Friday. Nathalia Gómez-Irizarry declined to
comment to AP and closed the door at the house she shares with her husband,
saying he wasn’t home. Messages to Irizarry’s attorney were not immediately
returned. The DEA referred comment to the Justice Department.
A lawyer for the star witness in the
case, a former DEA informant who was handled by Irizarry, celebrated the
charges. Gustavo Yabrudi was given a 46-month sentence last year for his role
in a multimillion-dollar money-laundering conspiracy.
“Mr. Yabrudi has been waiting for almost
two years for this day,” said Leonardo Concepcion. “It's time that the puppet
masters who pulled his strings and abused their authority over him are made to
answer for their actions.”
Starting around 2011, Irizarry allegedly
used the cover of his badge to file false reports and mislead his superiors,
all while directing DEA personnel to wire funds reserved for undercover stings
to accounts in Spain, the Netherlands and elsewhere that he controlled or were
tied to his wife and his co-conspirators.
He’s also accused of sharing sensitive
law enforcement information with his co-conspirators.
The DEA has declined to comment on its
employment of Irizarry and potential red flags that came up during his
screening process. Irizarry was hired by the DEA despite indications he showed
signs of deception in a polygraph exam and had declared bankruptcy with debts
of almost $500,000. Still, he was permitted to handle financial transactions
after being hired by the DEA.
In total, Irizarry, and informants under
his direction handled at least $3.8 million that should've been carefully
tracked by the DEA as part of undercover money laundering investigations.
Not all of that amount was pocketed by
the co-conspirators, but the indictment details at least $900,000 that was paid
out from a single criminal account opened by Irizarry and an informant using
the name, passport and social security number of a third person who was unaware
their identity was being stolen.
Proceeds from the alleged scheme funded
a veritable spending spree. It included the purchase of a $30,000 Tiffany
diamond ring, a BMW, three Land Rovers and a $767,000 home in Cartagena as well
as homes in south Florida and Puerto Rico, where the couple has been living. To
hide his tracks, Irizarry allegedly opened a bank account in someone else's
name and used the victim's forged signature and Social Security number.
It also funded the purchase in Miami of
a 2017 Lamborghini Huracan Spyder on behalf of a family member of
co-conspirator 2.
A red Lamborghini with the same vehicle
ID named in the indictment belongs to Jenny Ambuila, who was arrested last year
in Colombia along with her father, Omar Ambuila, a customs agent in the port of
Buenaventura, a major transit point for cocaine and contraband goods used to
conceal the proceeds of narcotics sales. Before her arrest, Ambuila shared
photos and videos of herself on Facebook posing next to the red sports car,
which is valued at more than $300,000.
The indictment was handed up a week
after another former DEA agent was sentenced to four years in federal prison
for his role in a decade long drug conspiracy that involved the smuggling of
thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Puerto Rico to New York.
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