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Sheb Swett - 212-637-6522

Aldo Rabago Bautista

22 Mag.

Aldo Rabago Bautista

✔

Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering - Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956

11/11/0202

New York, New York Hon. Sarah L. Cave, United States Magistrate Judge

22-MJ-03934-DAMIAN Case 1:22-mj-03934-MD Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/16/2022 Page 1 of 10
Approved: _______________________________ 

 EMILY DEININGER / SHEB SWETT 

 Assistant United States Attorneys 

 

Before: THE HONORABLE SARAH L. CAVE 

United States Magistrate Judge 

Southern District of New York 

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - X 

 : SEALED COMPLAINT 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA : 

 : Violation of 

 - v. - : 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h) 

 : 

ALDO RABAGO BAUTISTA, : COUNTY OF OFFENSE: 

 : NEW YORK 

 Defendant. : 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - X 

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, ss.: 

 EDWARD MATEO, being duly sworn, deposes and says that 

he is a Special Agent with the United States Drug Enforcement 

Administration (“DEA”), and charges as follows: 

COUNT ONE 

(Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering) 

1. From at least in or about July 2020 through at least in 

or about November 2022, in the Southern District of New York and 

elsewhere, ALDO RABAGO BAUTISTA, the defendant, and others known 

and unknown, willfully and knowingly did combine, conspire, 

confederate, and agree together and with each other to commit money 

laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 

1956(a)(1)(B).

2. It was a part and an object of the conspiracy that ALDO 

RABAGO BAUTISTA, the defendant, and others known and unknown, 

knowing that the property involved in certain financial 

transactions represented the proceeds of some form of unlawful 

activity, would and did conduct and attempt to conduct such 

financial transactions, which in fact involved the proceeds of 

specified unlawful activity, to wit, (i) felonious narcotics 

offenses, in violation of Title 21, United States Code; and (ii) 

offenses against a foreign nation involving the manufacture, 

importation, sale, or distribution of a controlled substance (as 

such term is defined for purposes of the Controlled Substances 

Case 1:22-mj-03934-MD Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/16/2022 Page 2 of 10
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Act), knowing that the transactions were designed in whole or in 

part to conceal and disguise the nature, the location, the source, 

the ownership, and the control of the proceeds of the specified 

unlawful activity, and to avoid a transaction reporting 

requirement under State and Federal law, in violation of Title 18, 

United States Code, Section 1956(a)(1)(B)(i) and (ii). 

(Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h).) 

The bases for my knowledge and for the foregoing charges 

are, in part, as follows: 

3. I have been a DEA Special Agent for approximately four 

years. During that time, I have participated in numerous 

investigations of unlawful drug distribution as well as money 

laundering. During the course of those investigations, I have 

conducted or participated in surveillance, drug transactions with 

undercover officers and confidential informants, the introduction 

of undercover officers, the execution of search warrants, 

debriefings of witnesses, and reviews of taped conversations and 

drug records. Through my training, education, and experience, I 

have become familiar with the manner in which illegal drugs are 

imported and distributed; the way in which illegal drugs are 

prepared, packaged, and sold on the street; some of the methods of 

payment for such drugs; and some of the methods that are used to 

disguise the source and nature of the profits made by drug dealers. 

4. This affidavit is based on that experience, my 

conversations with other law enforcement officials, and my 

examination of reports and records. Because this affidavit is being 

submitted for the limited purpose of demonstrating probable cause, 

it does not include all the facts I have learned during the course 

of my investigation. Where the contents of documents and the 

actions, statements, and conversations of others are reported 

herein, they are reported in substance and in part, except where 

otherwise indicated. 

Overview 

5. Based on my experience and training, and my 

participation in this investigation, I know that drug trafficking 

organizations (“DTOs”) use the international trade and financial 

systems to transfer money obtained through the sale of narcotics 

in the United States across international borders and disguise the 

illicit origins of the proceeds. Specifically, after drugs are 

sold for dollars in the United States, a foreign DTO typically 

extends a “contract,” which is an offer to purchase the narcotics 

proceeds, to a money laundering broker. Once the U.S. dollars are 

Case 1:22-mj-03934-MD Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/16/2022 Page 3 of 10
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delivered to the broker or agents of the broker, typically through 

a bulk cash pickup in the United States, the broker releases the 

agreed upon amount of currency in the narcotics trafficker’s home 

country. The money laundering broker then introduces the narcotics 

proceeds into the U.S. banking system, including through corporate 

shell entities. The money laundering broker may then use the funds 

to purchase goods, either from the United States or other markets, 

that can be transported to the broker’s home country and sold for 

value. Alternatively, the broker may sell the dollars to 

individuals outside of the United States who wish to move their 

wealth to the United States outside of the banking system. This 

network, which allows drug traffickers to collect narcotics 

proceeds in their home country without ever sending money in crossborder transactions from the United States, is known as the Black 

Market Peso Exchange (“BMPE”). 

6. Since in or about 2019, DEA has been investigating a 

group of individuals based primarily in Mexico who participate in 

the repatriation of drug cartel proceeds to Mexico and other 

countries through the BMPE. As set forth in greater detail below, 

the investigation has uncovered that ALDO RABAGO BAUTISTA, the 

defendant, is a money laundering broker based in Mexico City, 

Mexico. BAUTISTA helps drug cartels arrange to get money from the 

United States and other countries back to Mexico and other 

countries through the BMPE. 

7. As set forth in greater detail below, between in or about 

July 2020 through at least in or about November 2022, ALDO RABAGO 

BAUTISTA, the defendant, facilitated the laundering of 

approximately $3.7 million of narcotics proceeds. 

BAUTISTA Conversations with CS-1 

8. As part of the investigation, I and other DEA agents 

have debriefed a confidential source (“CS-1”).1 Based on my 

conversations with CS-1 and other law enforcement officers, my 

review of law enforcement reports regarding CS-1, my review of 

chat messages between CS-1 and others, my review of draft 

transcriptions between CS-1 and others, and my training and 

experience, I have learned the following, in substance and in part: 

1 CS-1 has been cooperating with law enforcement since early 2018. CS-1 

has pled guilty to federal money laundering offenses and is cooperating 

in the hopes of receiving leniency at sentencing. Information CS-1 has 

provided has been corroborated in part by other evidence gathered, 

including bank records, toll records, and information provided by other 

confidential sources. 

Case 1:22-mj-03934-MD Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/16/2022 Page 4 of 10
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a. Prior to cooperating with the Government, CS-1 

worked with money launderers located across the world, including 

Mexico, Columbia, Hong Kong, Israel, and elsewhere. CS-1 would 

receive contracts to retrieve and transfer narcotics proceeds. CS1 would also work on behalf of other money laundering brokers, 

helping them to retrieve narcotics proceeds in the United States 

and send those proceeds to U.S. bank accounts in the name of shell 

companies in exchange for a commission. 

b. CS-1 had historically participated in transactions 

involving a particular money laundering broker based in Mexico 

(“CC-1”). In or about July 2020, CS-1 reconnected with CC-1 and 

began conducting bulk cash pickups for CC-1 in the United States 

as part of CS-1’s proactive assistance to the DEA. 

c. In or about November 2021, CC-1 instructed CS-1 to 

contact an individual, later identified as ALDO RABAGO BAUTISTA, 

the defendant, regarding some recent issues with the payouts of 

money laundering contracts in Mexico due to a shortage of U.S. 

dollars in Mexico, which was the currency that BAUTISTA and CC1’s “client” preferred. During that call, CC-1 explained to CS-1 

that CC-1 worked for BAUTISTA as a middleman in providing money 

laundering contracts to CS-1. 

d. In or about late 2021, CS-1 met with BAUTISTA, whom 

CS-1 knew as “Aldo,” CC-1, and another individual in Mexico City, 

Mexico, at the DEA’s direction. During that meeting, which was 

audio-recorded and surveilled by DEA agents, BAUTISTA and CS-1 

discussed the fact that their business involved moving drug 

proceeds including, the following:2

i. CS-1 noted that “[the clients] send the 

‘falopa’ over there, until they get paid for it, [and] it takes 

time,” and expressed frustration that “when they have the money, 

they want to do it right away,” but with “the ones who are selling 

it, they give them a month to sell it.” BAUTISTA responded, “Yes, 

exactly.” Based on my conversations with CS-1, I understand that 

“falopa” is a term used amongst money launderers to refer to 

narcotics. 

ii. BAUTISTA and CS-1 discussed issues that they 

had faced in the past when the couriers picking up the bulk cash 

in the United States had been stopped by law enforcement, or had 

2 CS-1 communicated with BAUTISTA in Spanish, and the summaries provided 

herein are based on translations of those conversations. 

Case 1:22-mj-03934-MD Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/16/2022 Page 5 of 10
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absconded with the money and then falsely claimed that they had 

been stopped by law enforcement. 

iii. BAUTISTA, CS-1, and CC-1 discussed the 

possibility of having CS-1 send money from the bulk cash pickups 

to Columbia instead of Mexico because that is where the “product” 

is being manufactured and distributed from. Based on my 

conversations with CS-1 and my training and experience, I 

understand that “product” refers to narcotics : 

CS-1: I can send, if your people want, I can send money 

to Columbia. 

CC-1: Directly over there? 

CS-1: Medellin, Cali, Bogota. 

BAUTISTA: No, these are not Columbians. I have the 

contact butCS-1: Yes, but they do buy product from over there. If 

they need to pay over there, you facilitate it a 

bit. 

CC-1: But the Columbians nowadays have streamlined, they 

want everything in USDT.3

BAUTISTA: Exactly. That’s alreadyCS-1: Alright thatCC-1: And that’s how they give it to everybody. 

BAUTISTA: They don’t touch the money anymore. 

9. Based on my participation in this investigation and my 

conversations with other law enforcement officers, I know that a 

DEA agent conducting physical surveillance of the meeting between 

CS-1 and ALDO RABAGO BAUTISTA, the defendant, in Mexico City, 

Mexico, in or about late 2021, recognized the individual that CS1 knew as “Aldo” as the same person pictured in a photograph that 

was obtained from a United States visa application submitted by 

BAUTISTA. 

3 Based on my training, experience, and participation in this 

investigation, I know that USDT refers to Tether, a cryptocurrency. 

Case 1:22-mj-03934-MD Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/16/2022 Page 6 of 10
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Money Laundering Transactions 

10. Based on my participation in this investigation; my 

conversations with others, including law enforcement officers and 

CS-1; and my review of communications, including WhatsApp chats 

and recorded conversations, between CS-1 and ALDO RABAGO BAUTISTA, 

the defendant, I have learned the following, in substance and in 

part: 

a. Between in or about July 2020 and in or about 

November 2022, ALDO RABAGO BAUTISTA, the defendant, was involved 

in approximately 36 money laundering contracts for bulk cash 

pickups in the United States that were given to CS-1, for a total 

of approximately $3.7 million. During that period, CS-1 

communicated with BAUTISTA extensively, primarily through WhatsApp 

chats and calls,4 to arrange bulk cash pickups and for BAUTISTA to 

provide CS-1 with instructions on what bank account the funds 

should subsequently be sent to once the bulk cash pickup was 

complete. 

b. For example, in or about February 2020, another 

money laundering broker (“CC-2”) passed a money-laundering 

contract to CS-1 for approximately $150,000 in New York City, as 

follows: 

i. On or about February 21, 2022, CC-2 offered 

CS-1 a contract to pick up approximately $500,000 in bulk United 

States currency located in the New York area. At the DEA’s 

direction, CS-1 accepted the contract and asked CC-2 to break it 

into smaller amounts, to which CC-2 agreed. 

ii. On or about February 23, 2022, another 

individual (“CC-3”) contacted CS-1 to arrange the date, time, and 

location for the pickup of approximately $150,000. At the direction 

of the DEA, CS-1 instructed CC-3 that the pickup would occur the 

next day in Brooklyn, New York. 

iii. On February 24, 2022, a DEA confidential 

source (“CS-2”) met an unknown male (“UM-1”) at the designated 

location in Brooklyn, New York. UM-1 was driving a vehicle (the 

“Dropoff Car”) that was registered to an address in the Bronx, New 

York. UM-1 gave CS-2 a yellow shopping bag that was later 

4 CS-1 has provided copies of those WhatsApp chats to the DEA and 

provided summaries of the calls to the DEA shortly after they 

occurred. 

Case 1:22-mj-03934-MD Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/16/2022 Page 7 of 10
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determined to contain approximately $150,000 in United States 

currency. 

iv. Law enforcement agents conducting continued 

physical surveillance of UM-1 followed UM-1, who was driving the 

Dropoff Car, to the Bronx, New York, where UM-1 was observed 

driving in circles around several city blocks in a manner that, 

based on my training, experience, and participation in this 

investigation, I believe was consistent with an attempt to evade 

surveillance by law enforcement. UM-1 then parked the Dropoff Car 

on the street in the Bronx, New York, approximately one mile from 

the address to which the Pickup Car was registered. 

v. After the pickup occurred, CS-1 contacted 

another money laundering broker (“CC-4”), who works with BAUTISTA, 

to inform CC-4 that the transaction was complete. 

vi. The next day, CS-1 received instructions from 

BAUTISTA and CC-4 to split the money and wire transfer it into 

five different accounts. The information for two of those accounts 

was provided by BAUTISTA, while the information regarding the other 

three accounts was provided by CC-4. 

c. On multiple occasions, ALDO RABAGO BAUTISTA, the 

defendant, was involved in money laundering transactions that 

subsequently led to the seizure of narcotics. For example, in or 

about December 2021, BAUTISTA participated in two money-laundering 

transactions with CS-1 for a total of approximately $250,000, in 

Salt Lake City, Utah, that resulted in the seizure of narcotics 

and firearms, as follows: 

i. On or about December 8, 2021, BAUTISTA offered 

CS-1 a contract to pick up approximately $100,000 in Salt Lake 

City, Utah. 

ii. On that same day, an unknown male (“CC-5”) 

contacted CS-1 to arrange the date, time, and location for the 

pickup. The following day, CS-1 and CC-5 agreed that the pickup 

would occur on December 13, 2021 at a location in the Salt Lake 

City, Utah, area. The pickup was subsequently postponed to 

December 14, 2021. 

iii. On or about December 14, 2021, a DEA 

confidential source (“CS-3”) met with an individual from whom CS3 had previously received bulk cash (“CC-6”) at the agreed upon 

location. During that meeting, CC-6 gave CS-3 a bag containing 

multiple bundles of U.S. currency held together with rubber bands, 

which were later determined to contain, in total, approximately 

Case 1:22-mj-03934-MD Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/16/2022 Page 8 of 10
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$100,000. Law enforcements agents conducting physical surveillance 

then followed CC-6 to a residence located in West Jordan, Utah 

(the “CC-6 Residence”). 

iv. After the pickup concluded, CS-1 informed CC4 that the transaction was complete, and was instructed that the 

money should be wired to three separate accounts. CS-1 informed 

BAUTISTA and CC-4 once those wire transfers were complete. 

v. On or about January 5, 2022, BAUTISTA offered 

CS-1 another contracted to pick up approximately $150,000 in bulk 

U.S. currency located in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

vi. That next day, CC-5 contacted CS-1 to arrange 

the date, time, and location for the pickup. CS-1 instructed CC5 to meet CS-1’s courier on January 12, 2022 at a location in the 

Salt Lake City, Utah area. 

vii. On or about January 12, 2022, CS-3 met CC-6 at 

the agreed upon location. During that meeting, CC-6 gave CS-3 a 

brown bag containing multiple bundles of U.S. currency held 

together with rubber bands, which were later determined to contain, 

in total, approximately $150,000. 

viii. On or about February 21, 2022, law enforcement 

agents executed a judicially authorized search warrant of the CC6 Residence. During the execution of that search warrant, law 

enforcement recovered approximately 626 grams of white powder, 

some of it in brick form, a sample of which field tested positive 

for cocaine; approximately 312 grams of marijuana; approximately 

84 grams of suspected THC extract; approximately 63.5 grams of 

THC-laced gummies; one rifle, one handgun, and ammunition. DEA 

agents subsequently arrested CC-6.5 

WHEREFORE, the deponent respectfully requests that a 

warrant be issued for the arrest of ALDO RABAGO BAUTISTA, the 

5 In or about May 2022, CC-6 pled guilty to a federal charge of 

possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. 

Case 1:22-mj-03934-MD Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/16/2022 Page 9 of 10
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defendant, and that he be arrested and imprisoned or bailed, as 

the case may be. 

_________________________________ 

EDWARD MATEO 

Special Agent 

Drug Enforcement Administration 

Sworn to before me this 

 th day of November, 2022 

__________________________________ 

THE HONORABLE SARAH L. CAVE 

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

/s Edward Mateo (by Court with Authorization)

by reliable electronic means pursuant to 

11th Fed. R. Cr. P. 4.1 & 41(d)(3).

Case 1:22-mj-03934-MD Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 11/16/2022 Page 10 of 10