Opinion ID: 2799450
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Money-Laundering Operations

Text: Miguel and Omar Trevino used the proceeds of cocaine sales to purchase quarter horses 2 in the United States through legitimate-appearing intermediaries. They did so in part because the quarter-horse business “was a good business . . . to get clean money” from the proceeds of drug sales in the United States back into Mexico. Los Zetas generated “clean money” by repeatedly “selling” horses to individuals or shell companies controlled by coconspirators. For instance, one horse, Blue Girls Choice, was initially purchased by Ramiro Villareal for $15,000 cash. The horse was then repurchased by Villareal at a different horse sale—this time for $135,000. Later, the horse was purchased for $30,000, and then repurchased again for $135,000. This same horse was bought and sold several times over between members of the conspiracy. Each transaction generated the appearance of legitimate cash proceeds. The horses were held in the names of multiple individuals and companies to conceal the true identity of their actual owner: Zeta 40, Miguel Trevino. 3 Los Zetas paid for horse training, breeding, veterinary bills, and racing expenses with the proceeds of illegal drug sales. Miguel Trevino directed subordinates Mario Cuellar and Jose Vasquez to deliver cash payments for these expenses. Cuellar and Vasquez sold cocaine in the United States, and, 2 The American quarter horse is a breed of horse bred to sprint short distances, and the breed is named for its success in races of a “quarter” of a mile or less. 3 As one witness testified, “The pattern was these horses would change claims of ownership quite rapidly. Some of the companies are alias companies. The people’s names on the AQHA [the American Quarter Horse Association] records are alias names. Some of them are real names. But th[ose] people did not purchase the horses or have anything to do with the horses.” 4 Case: 13-50849 Document: 00513035268 Page: 5 Date Filed: 05/07/2015 No. 13-50849; cons. w/ No. 13-51003 rather than delivering all of the profits from these sales back to Mexico, they would deliver cash to the horse operation. 4 Horse expenses also generated “clean cash.” For instance, Tyler Graham, a manager at a quarter-horse-breeding farm, testified that members of the conspiracy would pay each other stud fees for Los Zetas’ horses to inseminate other horses that Los Zetas already owned, generating “[s]everal hundred thousand” dollars in “clean money” in one year alone.