Hector Paez-Garcia, a man previously extradited from Panama to the United States on money laundering charges, was sentenced in San Diego federal court to 41 months in custody as part of an ongoing Homeland Security Task Force investigation. Federal agents say he helped funnel tens of millions of dollars in drug proceeds for the Sinaloa Cartel, allowing the organization to sustain and expand its criminal enterprise.
The sentence was announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California, whose press release headline describes the case as involving $52 million laundered for the Sinaloa Cartel. A separate 2025 report from Times of San Diego put the figure at at least $52.7 million, describing drug-trafficking proceeds that passed through shell companies and into Mexican bank accounts controlled by Hector Alejandro Paez Garcia. The two accounts do not fully reconcile, and the available record does not clarify how the figures relate to one another.
According to FBI San Diego, the case stemmed from a joint investigation with the DEA's San Diego Division. The bureau posted on X on Friday that Paez-Garcia, who had previously been extradited from Panama to the United States on money laundering charges, was sentenced to 41 months in custody as part of the Homeland Security Task Force probe.
A Cartel's Financial Lifeline, According to the FBI
FBI San Diego Special Agent in Charge Mark Remily framed the case in stark terms. “Money laundering is the lifeblood of the cartel business model, enabling criminal organizations to profit from the misery and devastation caused by their drug trafficking operations,” Remily said, adding that Paez-Garcia's role in funneling drug proceeds allowed the Sinaloa Cartel to sustain and expand its criminal enterprise.
Remily also tied the sentencing to broader enforcement efforts. “Today's sentence demonstrates the strength of our partnerships and our unwavering commitment to dismantling the financial networks that fuel cartel violence and drug trafficking,” he said. “No matter where cartel facilitators hide, justice will find them.”
What An Earlier Guilty Plea Revealed
An earlier Justice Department release tied to the case said Paez pleaded guilty in federal court, admitting that he and others conspired to transport, transmit, and transfer tens of millions of dollars in drug-trafficking proceeds from the United States to Mexico, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The case is one of several the Southern District of California has brought under its Homeland Security Task Force umbrella targeting Sinaloa Cartel finances. In a related case, Gerardo Julio Rueda Torres pleaded guilty following a separate Homeland Security Task Force investigation to charges of conspiring to import and distribute multiple tons of cocaine and launder millions of dollars of drug proceeds for the cartel, per the same federal prosecutors' office.
The Broader Enforcement Picture
Times of San Diego's 2025 reporting on the wider investigation noted that a long-running FBI probe into the organization resulted in 11 arrests and the seizure of more than $3.1 million in illicit assets, while a separate DEA operation netted 24 more arrests and asset seizures totaling $450,000. A separate Justice Department update said money-laundering investigations tied to the broader effort had, to that point, resulted in charges against 51 defendants and the seizure of more than $4.1 million along with sizable quantities of methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine.
For now, federal officials are pointing to his 41-month sentence as the latest marker in a years-long campaign against the financial infrastructure propping up cartel operations.
