Ex-Mexico official's US property may be seized
Ex-Mexico official's US property may be seized; SPI condo on list
April 29, 2012 7:56 PM
The Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Texas and U.S. authorities are trying to seize $20 million in properties — including a San Antonio strip mall and South Padre Island condo unit — from a former Mexican government official who is accused of buying them with embezzled money.
Hector Javier Villarreal, 41, the former treasurer of the border state of Coahuila, Mexico, is wanted on charges of money laundering and engaging in organized criminal activity in Bexar County, said Tom Kelley, a spokesman for the Texas Attorney General's Office. Villarreal is also wanted in Mexico, where authorities say he falsified documents to borrow $222 million on the state's credit, then shuffled the money to relatives in the United States.
Federal prosecutors filed lawsuits last week in San Antonio seeking forfeiture of a dozen properties — including a pharmacy, a $1.2 million home and a storage center — the San Antonio Express-News reported (DA, feds in SA file claim to $6.5 million and a dozen high-dollar properties - San Antonio Express-News). Court documents say all were purchased with money embezzled from the government of Coahuila, and are owned by companies created by Lorenzo Schuessler Jr., Villarreal's brother-in-law and a San Antonio businessman and former real estate agent.
Authorities also are seeking forfeiture of properties owned by Villarreal's family members in the Rio Grande Valley, including a Harlingen car wash and a house and several commercial properties in Brownsville.
Villarreal, a former computer equipment salesman who went into government service in 2008, was arrested in Mexico in October and was freed after posting bail. Shortly afterward, he came to the U.S.
"The facts show Villarreal has received in excess of $26 million in foreign exchange transactions and cross border wires since (2009)," one of the affidavits states.
In February, Villarreal was arrested in East Texas with his wife, Maria Teresita Botello, and a relative, Oswaldo Coronado. Sheriff's deputies reported finding $67,000 in cash in the 2011 Mercedes SUV they were driving. The three were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to court documents. They were released, and days later the Mexican government issued Interpol warrants for Villarreal's arrest.
Villarreal's whereabouts are unknown.
Before being charged, he told Mexican media that the allegations were politically motivated and he denied any involvement in Schuessler's businesses. In March, Bexar County prosecutors filed a lawsuit seeking to keep $6.5 million that the Drug Enforcement Administration and Texas Attorney General's Office seized from bank accounts linked to two companies that the government says Schuessler controlled for Villarreal.
Schuessler and Villarreal came to the attention of JP Morgan Chase's anti-money-laundering unit in 2010 after a series of multimillion-dollar wire transfers. Schuessler then told bank investigators he was a "front" for Villarreal, according to affidavits.
Schuessler does not face criminal charges and his lawyers deny the allegations. Attorney Van Hilley, who is representing Schuessler in the forfeiture suits, disputed that Schuessler had called himself a "front."
"We are contesting the government's theory that the money in question qualifies as contraband under the state or federal statutes," Hilley said. "My client believes that the money legitimately came out of Mexico."
Ex-Mexico official's US property may be seized; SPI condo on list | condo, seized, list - Brownsville Herald
