Mexican National Pleads Guilty to Laundering $4M in Drug Proceeds via Crypto

A Mexican national pleaded guilty on September 4 to a money laundering conspiracy that moved approximately $4 million in drug trafficking proceeds through cryptocurrency, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Carlos Erick Vazquez Gonzalez, 48, admitted to accepting the drug proceeds into a cryptocurrency wallet he controlled, converting the funds to U.S. dollars in Mexico, and returning the bulk cash to money brokers who had arranged collection of the proceeds in cities across the United States.

Vazquez Gonzalez received an estimated $40,000 in commission for his role in the scheme. The mechanism involved money brokers collecting drug profits in the United States, depositing them into Vazquez Gonzalez's crypto wallet, and Vazquez Gonzalez then converting the cryptocurrency to dollars in Mexico and arranging for the cash's return to the brokers, according to the DOJ. The defendant moved the proceeds quickly to conceal or obfuscate their origins.

The DEA's Lexington Resident Office investigated the case with assistance from the DEA's Detroit, Rocky Mountain, Mexico, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Birmingham, Chicago, Cincinnati, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Louisville, Baltimore, Des Moines, Milwaukee, Portland, Columbia, and Rapid City field divisions, alongside IRS Criminal Investigation. The prosecution was brought by the Criminal Division's Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section.

Vazquez Gonzalez faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine his sentence at a hearing scheduled for December 17, 2026, after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative, a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad.