Former DEA agent charged with agreeing to launder millions of dollars for Mexican drug cartel

NEW YORK (AP) – A former top agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and an associate were charged with conspiring to launder millions of dollars for a Mexican drug cartel and obtain military-grade firearms and explosives, according to an indictment unsealed Friday in New York.

Prosecutors said Paul Campo, 61, of Oakton, Virginia, who retired from the DEA in 2016 after a 25-year career, and Robert Sensi, 75, of Boca Raton, Florida, were caught up in the sting involving a law enforcement informant posing as a member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The cartel, also known as CJNG, was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States in February.

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said Campo betrayed his DEA career by aiding the cartel, which he said was responsible for “numerous deaths from violence and drug trafficking in the United States and Mexico.”

Campo and Sensi appeared before a magistrate judge in New York on Friday afternoon, who ordered them held without bail. Their lawyers declared not guilty on their behalf.

Campo’s attorney, Mark Gombiner, called the indictment “somewhat sensational and somewhat incoherent.” He denied that the two men agreed to supply weapons for the cartel.

Prosecutors said the two talked about money laundering and seizing weapons

The indictment stated that Campo and Sensi agreed to launder approximately $12 million in drug proceeds for the cartel last year and converted approximately $750,000 in cash into cryptocurrency, which they thought would go to the group when it actually went to the U.S. government. Prosecutors also said they paid for approximately 220 kilograms of cocaine, which they said would be sold in the United States, thinking they would get a share of the proceeds.

The two men would also seek to supply commercial drones, AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, M4 carbines, grenade launchers and rocket-propelled grenades for the cartel, the indictment said.

Campo bragged about his law enforcement experience in conversations with the informant and offered to be a “strategist” for the cartel, authorities said. The indictment stated that he began his career as a DEA agent in New York and rose to the position of deputy chief of financial operations of the agency.

Evidence in the case includes hours of recordings of the two men talking to the informant, as well as cellphone location data, emails and surveillance footage, Assistant U.S. Attorney Varun Gumaste said in court Friday.

Sensi’s attorney, Amanda Kramer, argued that Sensi should be released while awaiting trial, saying he would not escape in part because he has multiple health problems, including injuries from a fall two months ago, early-stage dementia and Type II diabetes.

Prosecutor Gumaste said Sensi was convicted of mail fraud, defrauding the government and stealing $2.5 million in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He said evidence showed Sensi was also involved in a plan to supply military-grade helicopters for a Middle Eastern country.

Other criminal cases troubled DEA

DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said in a statement that Campo is no longer with the DEA, but the allegations undermine trust in law enforcement.

The DEA has been rocked by several shameful cases of misconduct within its ranks in recent years. The Associated Press at least counted 16 agents in the last decade He faced federal charges ranging from child pornography to drug trafficking. leak intelligence He sold firearms to defense attorneys and cartel associates, exposing gaping holes in the agency’s control.

Starting in 2021, the agency introduced new controls on how DEA funds can be used in money laundering operations and warned agents that, unlike previous administrations, they could be fired for a first offense of misconduct if it is serious enough.

Campo and Sensi are charged with four counts of conspiracy related to narcoterrorism, terrorism, narcotics distribution and money laundering.

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Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut. Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report.