SAN DIEGO — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - California, Southern), published as received.

SAN DIEGO – Frank Mahonri Cruz-Marentes, a Mexican national who was extradited to the United States from Peru in November 2025, pleaded guilty this morning to laundering more than $72 million in drug proceeds between January 2019 and April 2021.

According to court records, Cruz-Marentes secured contracts with drug trafficking organizations in Mexico to pick up drug proceeds in cities throughout the United States, including Baltimore, Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Denver, Chicago, New York, and numerous others. 

Once he received a contract, Cruz-Marentes communicated with an Imperial Valley-based network of couriers and bank account holders using burner phones and code phrases to coordinate bulk cash deposits into fictitious funnel business bank accounts.

The couriers travelled from San Diego to cities throughout the country to receive the bulk cash after using photographs and codes to verify the meeting details. The bulk cash was typically concealed in trash bags, duffel bags, or shoe boxes. After the illicit cash proceeds were deposited into the fictitious funnel bank accounts, the monies were wired to personal bank accounts in Mexico where the money was then dispersed to the drug trafficking organizations.

Cruz-Marentes is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel on December 18, 2026.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Blanca Quintero and Keith D. Ellison.

DEFENDANT                                               Case Number 20cr2682-GPC                                  

Frank Mahonri Cruz-Marentes                       Age: 37                                   Sinaloa, Mexico

SUMMARY OF CHARGE

Money Laundering Conspiracy – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1956(h)

Maximum penalty: Twenty years in prison and $500,000 fine or twice the value of the monetary instrument or funds involved.

INVESTIGATING AGENCIES

Homeland Security Investigations

Drug Enforcement Administration, Narcotics Task Force

Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation

Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations

San Diego Sheriff’s Department

This case was investigated and prosecuted by the California Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) as part of Operation Take Back America. HSTFs, which were established by President Trump in Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion, are joint operations led by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. Operation Take Back America is a nationwide federal initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).