La Popular Owner Admits Laundering $4.2M in Drug Money

PORTLAND, Ore. – Brenda Lili Barrera Orantes, 40, a Guatemalan national unlawfully residing in the United States, admitted today to turning her money service business, La Popular, into a key component of a multi-state drug trafficking operation. Orantes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, a charge stemming from a brazen scheme that funneled over $4.2 million across the border.

The operation, spanning from August 1, 2024, to November 1, 2024, utilized La Popular stores in Hillsboro, Beaverton, Woodburn, Odell and Canby, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. Court documents reveal that La Popular wasn’t moving legitimate funds; it was processing wire transfers to Mexico, totaling over $4.2 million. But the sheer volume of cash wasn’t the full story. Orantes and her co-conspirators directly accepted $49,500 in U.S. currency – the dirty proceeds of drug deals – and scrubbed it clean through the business, pocketing a hefty ten percent commission for their services.

Orantes didn’t just facilitate the laundering; she actively concealed it. Investigators found she employed a suite of deceptive tactics: falsifying sender information on wire transfers, breaking down large sums into smaller, less conspicuous amounts (a practice known as “structuring”), and rotating transactions through different La Popular locations to muddy the trail. It was a calculated effort to evade law enforcement and keep the drug money flowing.

Federal agents didn’t wait for the money to disappear. On April 16, 2025, they hit Orantes’ Beaverton residence and three La Popular stores – Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Vancouver – with federal search warrants. The raid yielded a significant haul: $316,542 in cash, a 2021 Cadillac Escalade, jewelry, and high-end clothing, all presumably purchased with illicit funds. The arrest of Orantes followed swiftly.

A federal grand jury in Portland returned a 23-count indictment on May 13, 2025, laying out the full scope of the charges against Orantes: money laundering and conspiracy, failure to file required currency transaction reports, and failure to file suspicious activity reports. Today’s guilty plea covers one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, but comes with a significant forfeiture agreement. Orantes will surrender her Beaverton residence and all seized property linked to the money laundering operation.

Orantes now faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a $500,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for January 21, 2026, before a U.S. District Court Judge. The investigation was a joint effort by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Westside Interagency Narcotics Team. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher L. Cardani and Julia Jarrett are prosecuting the case.