United States of America v. Israel Ortiz Velasco

Lexington, Kentucky, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with money laundering conspiracy and a conspiracy to import controlled substances into the United States, including 400 grams or more of fentanyl and five kilograms or more of cocaine.

From approximately June to December 2017, Israel Ortiz Velasco, 33, agreed with others to distribute fentanyl and cocaine, knowing and intending that those drugs would be unlawfully imported from Mexico into the United States for distribution. During the conspiracies to distribute drugs and to launder money, Ortiz was in Mexico, and his Mexico-based coconspirators supplied the fentanyl and cocaine imported into the Eastern District of Kentucky. Ortiz admitted his role in the distribution of kilograms of powder fentanyl and fentanyl pressed into counterfeit pills, and approximately 25 kilograms of cocaine. Once the drugs were distributed in the Eastern District of Kentucky, the bulk cash proceeds of distribution were collected and transferred to Mexico by wire transfers, structured deposits at financial institutions, and other money laundering methods.

Under federal law, Ortiz must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon Ortiz’s release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for 10 years.

Paul C. McCaffrey, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Jim Scott, Special Agent in Charge, DEA, Louisville Field Division; Lawrence Weathers, Chief of Police, Lexington Police Department, and Phillip J. Burnett, Jr., Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police, announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the DEA and KSP. Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Bradbury prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF comprises agents and officers from FBI, ATF, DEA, IRS, and HSI with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

The Defendant was found guilty and was sentenced to 300 months in prison.