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Ex-Lehman Brothers rep indicted in Mexican drug cartel probe

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Indictments were unsealed Thursday charging alleged members of a Mexican drug cartel -- including the former governor of a Mexican state -- with importing drugs into the United States and a former account representative for a brokerage firm with helping them launder the proceeds.

EXTRA INFORMATION Read the indictments:  • Narcotics conspiracy: U.S. v. Magana, et al.  • Money laundering: U.S. v. Villanueva Madrid, et al.  (FindLaw documents; PDF format)      LEGAL RESOURCES Latest Legal News Law Library FindLaw Consumer Center Select a topic Bankruptcy Discrimination Divorce Estate Planning Landlord-Tenant Personal Injury Taxes

The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, alleges that the Southeast Cartel conspired to import hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States and then distribute the drug in metropolitan areas nationwide.

Cocaine was shipped from Colombia to various locations in Belize and the Mexican state of Quintana Roo by speedboat before being transported to the United States, the indictment said.

The narcotics indictment adds Jose Albino Quintero Meraz and Jorge Manuel Torres Teyer as defendants to an existing indictment charging Alcides Ramon Magana, Gilberto Salinas Doria and Mario Ernesto Villanueva Madrid, the former governor of Quintana Roo, with narcotics conspiracy.

The indictment alleges Villanueva received payments for each shipment, about $30 million in all, in exchange for his protection in storing and transporting the cartel's cocaine shipments. Such support is alleged to have included the use of state facilities owned by the governor's office.

Formal extradition requests are expected this month for Villanueva, Ramon, Salinas, Quintero and Torres, whom Mexican authorities are holding.

If convicted, they would face maximum sentences of 40 years and fines of $2 million each.

The second indictment charges Consuelo Marquez, a former Lehman Brothers account representative in New York, with helping launder millions of dollars of Villanueva's narcotics proceeds. Also charged in the money-laundering conspiracy are Villanueva and his son, Luis Ernesto Villanueva Tenorio.

If convicted on those charges, Marquez, Villanueva and Villanueva's son could face prison terms of up to 20 years, plus fines of twice the amount of the laundered funds. They also face wire fraud counts that could result in prison sentences of 30 years on each count.

According to the indictment, since 1995 Villanueva and his son were alleged to have deposited large amounts of narcotics proceeds into foreign and United States bank and brokerage accounts. They are said to have then enlisted the assistance of Marquez to conceal their ownership and avoid the detection of the funds by law enforcement.

Marquez is alleged to have used her positions at Serfin Securities, a Mexican investment firm with offices in New York, and later with Lehman Brothers to establish offshore corporations structured to conceal the narcotics proceeds and their ownership by Villanueva and his son. The seizure and forfeiture of the accounts, estimated to total about $45 million, are being sought.

The U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York, which announced the unsealing of the indictments, said they came as a result of cooperation between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Mexican attorney general's office.