US court sentences former Mexican governor to nine years in prison for money laundering

A US judge on Wednesday sentenced a former Mexican governor to nine years in prison for accepting at least $3.5 million in bribes and using them to fraudulently buy property in the United States.

According to a court file, Tomás Yarrington, former governor of the northern state of Tamaulipas, was sentenced to nine years in prison and three years of supervised release.

The 66-year-old politician pleaded guilty in March 2021, three years after he was extradited to the United States from Italy while traveling under a false name and passport, according to the US Attorney’s Office.

“Even if you are the governor of a Mexican state, we will not stand idly by when you use your position to improperly line your pockets and violate the laws of the United States,” US Attorney Alamdar Hamdani said in a statement.

“Today’s prison sentence for Yarrington concludes a multi-year, multi-agency international investigation spanning two continents and concludes with bringing a corrupt politician to justice,” it added.

Hamdani’s office said Yarrington used the bribe money, obtained when he was governor between 1999 and 2005, to buy beachfront condos in the United States, large estates, commercial developments, planes and luxury vehicles.

According to the filing, several other charges were dismissed, including bank fraud and conspiracy to import cocaine and marijuana into the United States. A court summary suggested that Yarrington may have laundered up to $9.5 million.

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