Cynthia Elizabeth Tarrago Diaz, International Money Laundering, New Jersey 2022

A former member of Paraguay’s Congress has been sentenced to 33 months in prison for her role in an international money laundering conspiracy. Cynthia Elizabeth Tarrago Diaz, 42, pleaded guilty on Sep 15, 2020 to an information charging her with conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Tarrago Diaz and her husband, Raimundo Va, 46, were arrested by the FBI on Nov 21, 2019 after they arrived in Newark as part of their unlawful money laundering activities. They were charged in a criminal complaint along with a third individual, Rodrigo Alvarenga Paredes, who remains in Paraguay.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Tarrago Diaz and Va agreed to accept at least $2 million in United States currency from two individuals who represented themselves to be narcotics traffickers. The money was laundered through an international network of accounts in order to disguise the unlawful source of the proceeds.

Tarrago Diaz and Va traveled to New Jersey and Florida on multiple occasions and accepted approximately $800,000 in United States currency from the purported drug traffickers. They then caused those funds to be laundered through the conspiracy’s network of accounts and ultimately to be transferred back to an account maintained by the purported drug traffickers.

Judge Freda L. Wolfson imposed Tarrago Diaz’s sentence today by videoconference. In addition to the prison term, Judge Wolfson ordered Tarrago Diaz to forfeit $119,049.

U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, Newark Division, Trenton Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr., with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. He also thanked the Office of International Affairs for its assistance in the case.

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