Mexican authorities said Thursday that former senior security official Genaro Garcia Luna embezzled up to $745.9 million from government technology contracts.
Pablo Gómez, the head of Mexico’s anti-money laundering unit, said Garcia Luna and associates set up companies that landed 30 dubious government contracts while he was Mexico’s top security official in 2006-2012 and for six years afterward.
Garcia Luna “has put together a web of corruption and money laundering for the benefit of himself and his close associates,” Gómez said.
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Gómez described some of the properties the Mexican government is trying to recover in a lawsuit filed in Florida against Garcia Luna and his alleged associates, which he described as a “family business conglomerate.” Garcia Luna relocated to Florida after leaving Mexico post.
Former top Mexican security official Genaro Garcia Luna is accused of embezzling up to $746 million from contracts. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini, File)
García Luna is currently on trial in New York, accused of accepting millions of dollars to allow the Sinaloa cartel to transport tons of cocaine into the United States. The lawsuit is separate from the criminal trial.
Garcia Luna allegedly funneled money from prison security and government intelligence technology contracts to offshore accounts, many in Barbados, then sent it to Miami to buy luxury condos and classic cars.
Gómez suggested that Garcia Luna and his associates had a soft spot for vintage Mustangs from the 1960s and 1970s, saying they bought many. He said they also bought luxury sports cars like Lamborghinis and Ferraris.
Gómez said the Florida lawsuit was filed in September 2021.
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The contracts covered things like surveillance, monitoring and communications equipment used in prisons and intelligence work. The contracts were allegedly inflated. In one case, Gómez said, the contract was simply forged.
Garcia Luna is on trial in New York accused of accepting briefcases full of cash – millions of dollars, in all – to keep the notorious Sinaloa cartel operating with impunity while shipping cocaine to the United States. the evidence is based on verbal testimonies from incarcerated former drug traffickers.
Garcia Luna served as secretary of public safety under President Felipe Calderon from 2006 to 2012. His lawyers say he was a legitimate businessman who consulted in Florida before being arrested in 2019.
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The current president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has long complained that when corrupt politicians and drug traffickers are convicted in the United States, the United States seizes and keeps their fortunes, which have often been largely made in Mexico. López Obrador wants Mexico to recover that money.
