NEW YORK (AP) — A former high-level agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and an associate have been charged with conspiring to launder millions of dollars and obtain military-grade firearms and explosives for a Mexican drug cartel, according to an indictment unsealed Friday in New York City.
Paul Campo, 61, of Oakton, Virginia, who retired from the DEA in 2016 after a 25-year career, and Robert Sensi, 75, of Boca Raton, Florida, were allegedly caught in a sting operation that involved their dealings with a confidential source who posed as a member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, but really was being directed by law enforcement officials.
The cartel, also know as CJNG, was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February.
Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Campo betrayed his DEA career.
“As alleged, Paul Campo and Robert Sensi conspired to assist CJNG, one of the most notorious Mexican cartels that is responsible for countless deaths through violence and drug trafficking in the United States and Mexico,” Clayton said in a statement.
Lawyers for Campo and Sensi entered not guilty pleas on their behalf during appearances in federal court in Manhattan on Friday afternoon.
“Certainly the charges here are quite alarming,” Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger said during Sensi’s appearance.
Scheme involved talk of laundering money, obtaining weapons
Over the past year, Campo and Sensi allegedly agreed to launder about $12 million in drug proceeds for the cartel and converted about $750,000 in cash to cryptocurrency, thinking it was going to the group when it really went to the federal government, the indictment says. They also provided a payment for about 220 kilograms of cocaine that they were told would be distributed and sold in the U.S. for about $5 million, and they would get a cut of the proceeds, according to the allegations.
They also said they would look into procuring commercial drones, AR-15 semiautomatic rifles, M4 carbines, grenade launchers and rocket-propelled grenades for the cartel, the indictment alleges. Campo’s lawyer disputed the allegation in the indictment that the two men “agreed to explore” obtaining weapons for the cartel, saying it’s a cop-out for a lack of evidence.
Campo also boasted about his prior law enforcement experience during conversations with the confidential source and offered to be a “strategist” for the cartel, authorities said. He began his career as a DEA agent in New York and rose to become deputy chief of financial operations for the agency, the indictment said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Varun Gumaste said in court Friday that Campo and Sensi’s alleged conduct was “quite egregious and concerning.” He said the evidence includes hours of recordings of the two men talking with the source, as well as cellphone location data, emails and surveillance images.
Gumaste said both men had international ties and were flight risks.
Former agent’s lawyer questions indictment
Campo’s lawyer, Mark Gombiner, called the indictment a “somewhat sensationalized and somewhat incoherent document.” Some of the allegations in it are contradictory, he argued.
Both men were ordered detained with out bail, and their next court hearings were set for Dec. 19.
Sensi’s attorney, Amanda Kramer, argued that Sensi is not a flight risk and has multiple health problems, including injuries from a fall two months ago, early-stage dementia and type II diabetes.
Campo and Sensi are both charged with four conspiracy counts related to alleged narcoterrorism, terrorism, narcotics distribution and money laundering.
Gumaste said evidence shows that Sensi also was engaged in a scheme to procure military-grade helicopters for a Middle East country. He said Sensi has three convictions from the late 1980s and early 1990s involving charges of mail fraud, defrauding the government and stealing $2.5 million.
Campo has no criminal record, Gombiner said.
Other criminal cases have roiled the DEA
DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said in a statement that while Campo is no longer employed by the DEA, the allegations undermine trust in law enforcement.
The DEA has been roiled in recent years by several embarrassing instances of misconduct in its ranks. The Associated Press has tallied at least 16 agents over the past decade brought up on federal charges ranging from child pornography and drug trafficking to leaking intelligence to defense attorneys and selling firearms to cartel associates, revealing gaping holes in the agency’s supervision.
Starting in 2021, the agency placed new controls on how DEA funds can be used in money laundering stings, and warned agents they can now be fired for a first offense of misconduct if serious enough, a departure from prior administrations.
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Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut. Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report.
