A Colombian national who flew into Miami International Airport on August 1 was arrested in Florida less than a week before his scheduled return flight home, accused of laundering roughly $135 million in drug proceeds through cryptocurrency accounts and hundreds of bank accounts in Colombia. William Andres Holguin Mendez, 40, pleaded not guilty on September 4 before a federal judge in Greenville, and the case traces back to street-level drug buys in the Upstate that federal agents quietly tracked for years before the financial trail led overseas.
Federal agents arrested Holguin Mendez in Florida on August 7 as he transited through the state from Colombia, with a federal judge in Greenville formally entering the not-guilty plea on his behalf, according to Post and Courier. Court filings cited by the outlet indicate he had arrived in Miami on August 1 with a return flight to Colombia booked for August 9, before federal agents moved in and executed the arrest warrant. Greenville News reports that Holguin Mendez was indicted on a single count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, a charge brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina.
How the Drug Money Moved Through Crypto
Federal prosecutors detailed a scheme in which drug money was funneled through domestic bank accounts held by shell companies, then converted into stablecoin cryptocurrency on a U.S. exchange, transferred to an offshore exchange, and ultimately converted into Colombian pesos spread across 207 bank accounts in Colombia, according to the Department of Justice. Stablecoins are dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies. Department of Justice records describe account activity from March 2023 to May 2024, while the alleged $135 million laundering occurred over four to six months.
Investigators say they were able to trace the illicit funds directly to Holguin Mendez because mandatory Know Your Customer identity records, provided by both the domestic and foreign cryptocurrency exchanges involved, confirmed he was the sole named account owner, per the Department of Justice. Those KYC processes involve establishing customer identity and assessing money-laundering risks.
A Federal Sworn Affidavit Points to a Cartel Coordinator
A federal sworn affidavit alleges that Holguin Mendez carried out the laundering scheme under the direction of an alleged drug coordinator named Johan Alberto Gutiérrez Alonso, whom news reports have linked to Mexico's Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Post and Courier reported. Federal investigators stated in court filings that the $135 million traced so far may represent only a portion of the total illicit capital Holguin Mendez laundered, though the full scope of that broader network remains unresolved in the filings reviewed by the outlet.
From a Greenville Walmart to an International Web
The multi-agency federal probe that eventually unearthed the laundering network actually began in August 2023 in Greenville, when FBI and DEA agents started tracking local drug sales, including methamphetamine and cocaine deals conducted by co-conspirator Jimmy Alejandro Espinoza in Powdersville and at a Greenville Walmart, per the same Post and Courier account. During that initial investigation, Espinoza turned over $140,000 in cash drug proceeds to an FBI confidential source, giving agents an early foothold into the operation.
Espinoza has already been through the federal court system: he previously pleaded guilty to a federal narcotics charge and was sentenced to more than five years in prison after admitting he handed over $90,000 in cash drug proceeds to a co-conspirator in early 2024, the report states. Physical surveillance of those cash handoffs was followed by further investigative connections in the case.
Statutory Exposure and a Nine-Figure Forfeiture Push
Holguin Mendez faces up to 20 years in federal prison under 18 U.S.C. § 1956 for conspiracy to commit money laundering, and federal prosecutors in South Carolina are seeking a $135 million criminal forfeiture judgment, according to the Post and Courier. Federal money laundering statutes provide for prison terms of up to two decades, per the Department of Justice's criminal resource manual.
Task Force Origins and Prosecutorial Team
The case is being prosecuted under the Homeland Security Task Force framework, referenced in Executive Order 14159, titled Protecting the American People Against Invasion, according to the Department of Justice's Western District of North Carolina office. That task force's Region 23 coordinates multi-agency enforcement across North Carolina and South Carolina, with core operations centered in Charlotte.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Bondura is prosecuting the case under U.S. Attorney Bryan P. Stirling for the District of South Carolina, following a joint investigation by the FBI Columbia Field Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Justice said. Holguin Mendez entered his plea in Greenville.
