8 People Charged in Drug Trafficking Scheme That Included Export Violations
The Department of Justice indicted eight people on charges related to an international drug trafficking conspiracy, which included attempts to commit export violations, the agency said Feb. 26. The eight, including Debbie Mercer and Kayleigh Moffett, both of Oklahoma City; Federico Machado of Florida; and Carlos Villaurrutia of McAllen, Texas, allegedly worked to buy and illegally register aircraft under foreign corporations for export to other countries, Justice said. Some aircraft were used by transnational criminal groups in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico to smuggle “large quantities” of cocaine into the U.S., with sales proceeds sent back to Mexico to buy more aircraft and cocaine, the Justice Department alleged.
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Justice alleged Machado, using his company South Aviation, and Villaurrutia, using his companies Exton, TWA International and Ford Electric, acted as sellers and brokers of the aircraft. Mercer, Moffett and Machado were separately charged in a fraud scheme after they allegedly convinced investors to “invest in aircraft purchase deposits for sales transactions that never took place.” They face up to 10 years in prison for the drug conspiracy charges and up to 20 years for money laundering, export and wire fraud violations.