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A former high-level agent of the US Drug Enforcement Administration and an associate have been charged with conspiring to launder millions of dollars and obtain military-grade firearms and explosives. mexican Drug cartel, according to an indictment unsealed Friday. new york City.
Paul Campeau, 61, of Oakton, Virginia, who retired DEA In 2016, after a 25-year career, Robert Sensi, 75, of Boca Raton, Florida, was reportedly caught in a sting operation involving his dealings with a confidential source who presented himself as a member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, but was actually being directed by law enforcement officials.
The cartel, also known as CJNG, was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Secretary of State marco rubio in February.
Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that Campo betrayed his DEA career.
“As charged, Paul Campeau and Robert Sensi conspired to assist the CJNG, one of the most notorious Mexican cartels, which is responsible for countless deaths through violence and drug trafficking in the United States and Mexico,” Clayton said in a statement.
lawyers Campo and Sensi pleaded not guilty during an appearance in federal court in Manhattan on Friday afternoon.
“Certainly the allegations here are deeply troubling,” Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrberger said during Sensi’s appearance.
The plan included money laundering, obtaining weapons
The indictment says that over the past year, Campo and Sensi allegedly agreed to launder approximately $12 million in drug proceeds for the cartel and converted approximately $750,000 of cash into cryptocurrency, thinking it was going to the group when it actually went to the federal government. According to the charges, he also provided payment for approximately 220 kilograms of cocaine, which he was told would be distributed and sold in the US for approximately $5 million, and that he would receive a share of the proceeds.
They also said they would look into purchasing commercial drones, AR-15 semiautomatic rifles, M4 carbines, grenade launchers and rocket-propelled grenades for the cartel, the indictment alleges. Campão’s lawyer denied the allegation in the indictment that the two men had “agreed to seek” to obtain weapons for the cartel, saying this was an action taken by the police due to lack of evidence.
Authorities said Campo also boasted about his prior law enforcement experience during conversations with the confidential source and offered to become a “strategist” for the cartel. The indictment says he began his career as a DEA agent in New York and rose to become the agency’s deputy chief of financial operations.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Varun Gumastee said in court Friday that the alleged conduct of Campeau and Sensei was “very serious and concerning.” He said the evidence included hours of recordings of two individuals’ conversations with the source, as well as cellphone location data, emails and surveillance images.
Gumaste said both men had international ties and were a flight risk.
Former agent’s lawyer raised questions on the indictment
Marco’s lawyer, Mark Gombiner, called the indictment a “somewhat sensationalist and somewhat incoherent document.” He argued that some of the allegations in it are contradictory.
Both men were ordered held without bail, and their next court hearings were set for December 19.
Sensei’s attorney, Amanda Kramer, argued that Sensei is not a flight risk and has multiple health problems, including injuries from a fall two months earlier, early-stage dementia and Type II diabetes.
Both Campeau and Sensi have been charged with four counts of conspiracy related to alleged narcoterrorism, terrorism, narcotics distribution and money laundering.
Gumaste said evidence showed Sensi was also involved in a plan to purchase military-grade helicopters for a Middle East country. He said Sensei has been convicted three times of mail fraud, defrauding the government and theft of $2.5 million in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Campeau has no criminal record, Gombiner said.
Other criminal cases have rocked the DEA
DEA Administrator Terrence Cole said in a statement that although Campeau is no longer employed by the DEA, the charges undermine confidence in law enforcement.
The DEA has been troubled by several embarrassing incidents of misconduct within its ranks in recent years. The Associated Press has counted at least 16 agents over the past decade who have faced federal charges ranging from child pornography and drug trafficking to leaking intelligence to defense lawyers and selling firearms to cartel associates, highlighting flaws in the agency’s oversight.
Starting in 2021, the agency placed new controls on how DEA funds could be used in money laundering stings, and warned agents that they could now be fired for a first offense of misconduct if it was serious enough, a departure from the prior administration.
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Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut. Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report.