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Bank of America Employee Pleads Guilty in Mexican Cartel-Linked Drug Conspiracy
BUFFALO, N.Y. – In a shocking case of corporate malfeasance, Presiliano Garcia, 33, a former personal banker at Bank of America, pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony in a scheme linked to a Mexican drug cartel.
According to court documents, Garcia opened approximately 36 bank accounts between 2012 and March 2016, which were used by co-defendants to structure deposits and funnel money from various states across the US, including Buffalo, to accounts in California.
The total amount of money funneled into these accounts was a staggering $8,359,223, composed of approximately 1,092 cash-in deposits, mostly structured between $8,000 and $9,990 and made in 15 different states.
Garcia knew that a structuring felony was being committed by these individuals but did not file any suspicious activity reports relating to these transactions or notify federal law enforcement of the structuring activity in order to conceal the activities of the co-defendants.
The case is part of a larger investigation into an illegal narcotics operation stretching from Sinaloa, Mexico to Western New York, which began in 2014. Law enforcement officers discovered a sophisticated drug trafficking organization with ties to a Mexican drug cartel operating out of the Los Angeles area.
To date, five of the seven defendants have been convicted in this case. Defendants Max Riestra and Gerardo Ballardo are scheduled to go to trial on January 22, 2019. The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Garcia is scheduled to be sentenced on April 3, 2019, before U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes|Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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