A Miami, Florida, court last week awarded the Mexican government a massive win in a civil suit filed against former Security Minister Genaro García Luna, who is currently serving a 38-year sentence in the U.S. for accepting bribes to help drug traffickers.
Judge Lisa Walsh in Miami-Dade County ordered members of the Weinberg family and related companies to pay US $578.5 million in damages to the Mexican state for losses incurred as a result of their involvement in corruption schemes. Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) has identified the Weinbergs as frontmen for García Luna.
Former security minister Genaro García Luna gets 38 years in US prison
This ruling adds to the judgments previously obtained against García Luna and his wife, Linda Cristina Pereyra, which were handed down in May 2025, for an amount exceeding US $2.448 billion, the Finance Ministry (SHCP) said in a statement.
“During the process, the involvement of individuals and legal entities was proven, who participated in mechanisms aimed at the improper obtaining of public contracts and in the subsequent transfer and concealment of resources,” the statement said.
The May 20 ruling — which lifted the total amount of judgments obtained in favor of the Mexican government for this scheme to more than US $3.067 billion — brought to a close a civil case first filed in September 2021 by the Mexican government.
In its initial complaint, the Mexican government — led at the time by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — accused Garcia Luna, his wife and their co-defendants of having “concealed funds stolen from the government” and smuggling the money to places like Barbados and the United States.
“Under the direction of the Defendant, the funds unlawfully taken from the Government of Mexico were used to build a money-laundering empire,” the complaint alleged.
After serving as security minister in President Felipe Calderón’s Cabinet from 2006 to 2012, García Luna moved to Florida. His lawyers said he was a legitimate businessman who did consulting in Florida before he was arrested by agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in December 2019 on charges of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel.
Last week’s ruling verified the UIF’s accusation that García Luna and associates set up companies that got 30 dubious government contracts while serving as security minister and for six years afterward.
The contracts were for items such as surveillance, monitoring and communications equipment used in prisons and in intelligence work. The contracts were presumably inflated. In one case, the contract was simply falsified.
The UIF has accused García Luna of channeling money from the government contracts to offshore accounts, many in Barbados, then sending it to Miami to buy high-end condos and vintage cars, while also funding a lavish lifestyle.
Mexico further alleges that Garcia Luna stole millions in taxpayer funds, for which it has pledged to seek restitution. The government is expected to file a legal complaint in Miami, where it alleges some of the illegal activity took place.
With reports from El Economista, Proceso, El Universal, Al Jazeera, The Associated Press and El País
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