Former Mexican governor sentenced to 9 years in prison for buying luxury US property with bribes

Former Mexican governor Tomas Yarrington Ruvalcaba has been sentenced to nine years in prison for receiving more than $3.5 million in illegal bribes he used to fraudulently purchase real estate in the United States. news release.

A district court has sentenced Yarrington, the former governor of Mexico’s Tamaulipas state and former presidential candidate, to 108 months in prison. The 66-year-old, who is not a U.S. citizen, is expected to be deported after being imprisoned, prosecutors said.

While serving as governor from 1999 to 2005, Yarington took bribes from Mexican individuals and private companies to do business with Tamaulipas, prosecutors said.

Yarington used the frontman to purchase US properties and luxuries in order to hide Yarington’s ownership and the illegal bribes used to purchase them. Among his purchases, prosecutors said, included a “seaside condominium, large real estate and commercial developments, an airplane and a luxury vehicle.”

The disgraced politician was arrested by authorities in April 2017 while traveling in Italy with a fake ID and a fake passport, prosecutors said. According to prosecutors, Yarrington was eventually extradited to the United States in April 2018 and will remain in custody until transferred to a U.S. Prison Service facility.

Upon sentencing, the court said Yarrington had violated his oath of office, undermined Mexico, and encouraged criminal activity.

“Even if you were the governor of Mexico, I would not stand by and let you use your position to enrich your own pockets and violate the laws of the United States.” U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani said in a statement. “Today’s jail sentence for Yarrington ends a multi-year international investigation by multiple agencies on two continents to bring corrupt politicians to justice.”