Thread: Mexican man pleads guilty in illegal export scheme

The United States Attorney's Office
Southern District of Texas
News Release

Oct. 23, 2008

MEXICAN BUSINESSMAN PLEADS GUILTY IN ILLEGAL EXPORT SCHEME

(LAREDO, Texas) – Jesus Argandona, a Mexican businessman, has pleaded guilty to illegally attempting to export goods to Mexico, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today. Argandona, 36, was arrested Oct. 9, 2008, at the San Antonio Airport when he arrived from Mexico City.

At a hearing this morning before U.S. District Court Judge Micaela Alvarez, Argandona pleaded guilty to the federal criminal offense alleged in a criminal information admitting that in 2007 he paid Jesse Thomas Doria to illegally export blank compact disks from Laredo into Mexico to avoid detection by Mexican authorities and avoid Mexican import duties. The blank compact disks were manufactured in China and were valued at approximately $600,000. Argandona was charged under a new federal law passed by Congress pertaining to the smuggling of goods from the United States. That statute, Title 18, USC, Section 554 carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine or both. Argandona will be sentenced Jan. 7, 2009, by Judge Alvarez. As part of his agreement with the United States, Argandona agrees to forfeit to the United States any right he may have to the blank compact disks.

In separate but related cases, Doria and Eustolio Rossell, both Laredo businessmen, and Rafael A. Morales, a licensed customs broker, each previously pleaded guilty to illegally attempting to export goods from the United States into Mexico. On Aug. 15, 2008, Thomas was sentenced to six months in prison and three months home confinement. Rossell and Morales are currently awaiting sentencing.

The investigation leading to criminal charges against Argandona and the other defendants was conducted by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) and initiated on Jan. 12, 2008, when ICE detained two in-bond shipments from China comprised of four trailers that were loaded with compact disks valued at approximately $600,000 from a warehouse owned by Doria. Doria had been hired by Argandona to illegally export the blank compact disks to Mexico after they arrived in Laredo. Thomas hired Morales to fraudulently cancel the in-bond documents contrary to United States customs laws and regulations. Morales then hired Rossell, because he believed Rossell was going to bribe a corrupt United States Customs Border and Protection officer (CBP) to cancel the in-bond documents. Rossell created fraudulent in-bond documents and then forged the name of a CBP officer, thereby making it possible for the blank compact disks to leave the Free Trade Zone and be taken unlawfully to a warehouse owned by Thomas. There never was a corrupt CBP officer involved in this scheme.

Argandona, who has been in federal custody since his arrest, will remain in federal custody pending sentencing.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sam Sheldon.

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txs/releases/ ... andona.htm

There is an excellent chance that the blank CDs would have returned to the United States as bootleg CDs and DVDs.