García Luna’s wife sold three properties that were in the name of her companies and her spouse, despite the civil complaint filed by the AMLO government that sought to confiscate said properties.
In September 2021, the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador filed a civil lawsuit in the United States to confiscate the assets that the former Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna owns directly, through his family and/or his names in Florida. Despite this, the former official and his wife, Linda Cristina Pereyra, sold three of the six luxury properties acquired in a real estate development in Aventura, Florida.
These are units 1009, 1010 and 1011 located at 2029 NE 207 Street within the Aventura Parksquare complex, which were sold simultaneously on February 1 while the trial against García Luna was taking place in the Eastern District Court of New York, accused of drug trafficking, received millionaire bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel and associates, and of a continuous criminal enterprise from 2001 to 2019.
Before the jury delivered the guilty verdict of the five counts of which García Luna was accused, his wife, Linda Cristina, sold said properties for a total of 2.2 million dollars, this despite the civil complaint filed by the AMLO’s government and that the three buildings are part of the list of properties belonging to the former police chief that the Mexican authorities intended to confiscate.
According to the public property records of Florida, the purchase and sale operations were formalized and these properties currently appear in the name of the new owners: the companies Crown Holdings Aventura Office LLC and 2029 NE 207 TH ST LLC, both created in January this year, just days before the acquisition of the properties.
These properties were among the few that were directly in the name of the police chief, his family and his companies. If this happened, what can be expected of the other assets that are not in his name, but of other people and companies?
The properties of Garcia Luna
In 2018, through the companies GL & Associates Consulting LLC and Delta Integrator, created by Genaro García Luna and his wife in Florida, the couple acquired six luxurious properties paid in cash in just four months for an amount of more than 5.1 million dollars in Aventura ParkSquare.
After the arrest of García Luna, which occurred in Texas, in December 2019, the Mexican government stated that they had been investigating the former official for several months for being involved in a money laundering network. It was ordered to freeze bank accounts in Mexico related to him, his companies, family members and his accomplices.
Despite the progress they had, the AMLO government filed its civil lawsuit in the United States until September 21, 2021. A short time before, García Luna and his wife went ahead and sold two of the six properties acquired.
Unit 507 located at 2980 NE 2007 Street, of Aventura Parksquare Offices, was in the name of GL & Associates Consulting LLC. It was sold on May 18, 2021 for $1.05 million to 803 Biscayne LLC. As representative of the selling party, Gabriel Díaz-Sarmiento signed, designated months later by the Mexican government as part of the money laundering strategy.
According to the public records of the Florida Division of Corporations, the heads of the company that bought García Luna are Carla Anzaldi and Natalia Fridman.
On August 9, 2021, Delta Integrator sold the property located at 2920 NE 207 Street, Unit 1008, for $550,000 to 1008 Parksquare Office LLC. Again, on behalf of Delta Integrator, Diaz-Sarmiento signed. Arturo Venti and María T. Fuentes González appear as those responsible for the purchasing company.
According to the complaint filed by the FIU before the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of Miami-Dade County, Florida, García Luna, in addition to the drug trafficking activities for which he was already found guilty, headed a network of individuals and a conglomerate business to launder money. He illegally obtained 30 contracts with government institutions, and took public resources in the amount of 745 million dollars, which the government is now seeking to recover.
According to that indictment, the “resources were transferred, through tax havens, to the state of Florida and applied in the acquisition of real and personal property and other assets.”
After the FIU complaint, García Luna’s lawyers in Florida tried to get an appeals court in Miami to throw out the complaint. AMLO himself boasted last June, at a press conference, that the United States court dismissed the former police chief’s request and the FIU, in a press release, stated that it had “secure 19 properties of García Luna and his accomplices”, but did not report that they had lost three of the most relevant properties accumulated directly by García Luna and his wife, Linda Cristina Pereyra.
The trial against García Luna in New York began in January 2023. For almost six weeks, the Prosecutor’s Office presented at least seven members of organized crime who testified directly against the former Secretary of State. And although his wife Linda Cristina acted confident during the process, in anticipation of the verdict she sold three of her four remaining properties.
The luxury offices 1010 and 1011 located at 2920 NE 2007, inside the Aventura Parksquare Medical Office Condominium, were sold on February 1 for $1.3 million to the company 2029 NE 207Th ST LL, created in Miami on January, 9, 2023, that is, just a few days before the acquisition.
The acquisition was made in cash, that is, without any loan or mortgage involved. The managers of the purchasing company are Kastytis Latvys and Maryana Serafinas.
Mònica E. Sarmiento signed as a witness to the sale, and as part of Delta Integrator, Gabriel Díaz-Sarmiento, whom the Mexican government points out as part of the framework to operate the network of companies through which the resources would have been used deviant audiences.
Regarding property 1009 located in the same real estate complex, Delta Integrator sold it for $900,000 also on February 1, 2023. The company that bought the property was Crown Holdings Aventura Office LLC, founded on January 5, 2023, whose managers are Mosche Manoah and Emilia R. Akridge.
Mónica E. Sarmiento also signed as a witness and as a representative of García Luna’s company, Díaz-Sarmiento.
Of the six departments, only one remains in the name of Delta Integrator. Unit 505 at 2960 NE 207 St, 1,500 square feet.
At this rate, when the Mexican or US governments attempt to seize Garcia Luna’s property, they will find little or nothing.
The defense team of the former Secretary of State has sought by various means to delay the sentence against his client and have managed to postpone it until March 2024. As long as the judge does not hand down the sentence of years in prison that he must serve, he cannot issue the sentence of the economic sanction to which he is creditor for the crimes he committed, and with this, confiscate the movable or immovable property in the name of the sentenced person or of persons or entities related to him.
Source: DW
