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Agents seize millions from drug lord’s fortune
U.S. action revealed after Chronicle suit
By DANE SCHILLER

Feb. 13, 2010, 7:18AM


Federal agents have seized at least $26 million from the drug-empire fortune of Osiel Cardenas Guillen — money he appears to have offered up himself as he sat in U.S. custody, records released Friday show.

Nearly two dozen documents were unsealed by U.S. District Judge Hilda Tagle on Friday in response to the Houston Chronicle's legal objections that too much of the case has been handled behind closed doors.

Those documents reveal that agents seized cartel cash between September 2008 and September 2009 and likely were led to the money by Cardenas, once head of the Gulf Cartel.

Extradited to Houston in 2006, he has been held at an undisclosed location for the past three years.

The records do not say where the money was recovered or whether anyone was arrested, only that it was seized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

The $26 million is a fraction of as much as $300 million the government is trying to capture from the wealth of the Gulf Cartel, according to a nearly decade-old federal indictment.

Cardenas is accused of drug and money-laundering, as well as threatening two American federal agents and an undercover officer.

His legal team declined to comment Friday, as did the federal prosecutor's office.

Cardenas' trial was canceled without explanation last year, adding to speculation that a plea agreement was being negotiated in order to grant him leniency or other considerations in exchange for his cooperation.

No plea noted
Several documents in the case remain sealed, and it is unclear if Cardenas has pleaded to charges or reached a deal.

But the cash seizures are repeatedly noted in agreed motions signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Toni Treviño as well as one of Cardenas' attorneys, Michael Ramsey.

“The United States moves to seal this … in order to protect the integrity of ongoing criminal investigations and preserve confidential information,â€