Two leaders of a gang considered to be the financial arm of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) were given prison sentences for drug and weapons charges on Monday.
Arnulfo and Ulises Jovani González Valencia, brothers-in-law to CJNG leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, were sentenced in the federal court at the maximum security prison at Puente Grande, Jalisco.
Arnulfo González was sentenced to five years for possession with intent to sell cocaine and methamphetamines, and his brother was given six years for the same charge, as well as possession of firearms.
The brothers were arrested by security forces in June 2018 in Zapopan, Jalisco.
Court documents revealed that in 2016 Arnulfo González established a center of operations in Bolivia where he created a money laundering scheme disguised as a real estate business and built a network of cocaine producers in order to export to Mexico and the United States.
He has since been on the U.S. Treasury Department’s blacklist, as has his brother Ulises, who posed as a real estate investor using false names and credentials to move illicit funds.
With the two behind bars, seven of 18 González Valencia siblings have been arrested for drugs, money laundering and organized crime.
One of the brothers, implicated in the Panama Papers, is in jail in Uruguay for money laundering. Gerardo González was arrested in 2016 when Uruguayan authorities seized over US $10 million worth of real estate. His extradition to the United States was approved in 2017, but appeals have kept him in Uruguay.
Abigael “El Cuini” González was arrested on drug trafficking charges in Puerto Vallarta in 2015. Although the United States has requested his extradition, a writ of amparo has kept him in the El Altiplano federal prison in México state since then.
In 2017, police in Brazil arrested José “La Chepa” González. His extradition has also been requested, but he remains in prison in Brazil.
Elvis González was arrested after being hospitalized for a traffic accident in Jalisco in January 2016 but was later released due to insufficient evidence.
Rosalinda González, wife of cartel boss El Mencho, was arrested on organized crime and money laundering charges in 2018 but was released on bail only three months later.
Source: El Financiero (sp)
