Corrupt DEA Unit Laundered Drug Money
One DEA agent calls the drug war "unwinnable" in a new AP exposé revealing a pattern of deep corruption at the drug agency.
In 2021, ex-DEA special agent José Irizarry was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison on 19 corruption counts, including money laundereing, fraud, and taking millions in bribes and kickbacks from Colombian drug trafficking organizations. “There’s so much dope leaving Colombia,” Irizarry told the Associated Press. “And there’s so much money. We know we’re not making a difference.”
Just before entering prison, Irizarry told investigative reporters at the AP that he was not the “mastermind” that federal prosecutors have tried to paint him as. Rather, he was part of group of federal drug agents and prosecutors, nicknamed “Team America,” who were all in on the action, diverting massive sums of money used in secret money laundering operations to party around the world.
“We had free access to do whatever we wanted,” the 48-year-old Irizarry told the AP in a series of interviews before beginning a 12-year federal prison sentence. “We would generate money pick-ups in places we wanted to go. And once we got there it was about drinking and girls.”
At first, the government argued that Irizarry, a former border patrol agent and air marshall, was the leader of a conspiracy, a “rogue agent” who broke bad. More recently, the AP reports that the DOJ has started questioning “two-dozen current and former DEA agents and prosecutors” named by Irizarry, who he says were either aware of his criminal activities, or were just as corrupt as he was.
“The drug war is a game. …It was a very fun game that we were playing,” Irizarry told the AP. Irizarry said as long as they brought in cases, which garnered good press for the agency, nobody questioned what they were doing. The AP found that the DEA has neglected to submit reports to Congress since 2006 that document the undercover money-laundering stings. With little accountability and checks in place, agents around the world could skim money, party, and live lavishly.
This group of far-flung federal agents are ostensibly tasked with a quixotic mission— to put an end to the global drug trade. Irizarry says the deeply-rooted corruption is tied to a feeling of resigation: Agents facing the reality that their efforts will never make a significant dent in a sprawling multi-billion dollar market.
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