U.S. v. Castaneda-Cantu, CASTANEDA-CANTU

• Decision Date: 04 May 1994
• Docket Number: CASTANEDA-CANTU,No. 92-7685,92-7685
• Citation: 20 F.3d 1325
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Francisco, and Jose Antonio Tiquet-Rivera, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 1325

20 F.3d 1325

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Francisco CASTANEDA-CANTU, and Jose Antonio Tiquet-Rivera,

Defendants-Appellants.

No. 92-7685.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

May 4, 1994.

Gus A. Saper, Houston, TX, for Francisco Castaneda-Cantu.

Thomas S. Berg, Asst. Federal Public Defender, Roland E. Dahlin, II, Federal Public Defender, Houston, TX, for Jose Antonio Tiquet-Rivera.

Richard A. Friedman, Crim. Div., Appellate Section, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, DC, D.R. Millard, III, Paula C. Offenhauser, Asst. U.S. Attys., Ronald G. Woods, U.S. Atty., Houston, TX, for U.S.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before KING and WIENER, Circuit Judges, and DOHERTY, ¹ District Judge.

PER CURIAM:

Procedural History

On March 10, 1992, a grand jury returned a twenty-five (25) count indictment against appellants, Francisco Castaneda-Cantu ("Castaneda") and Jose Antonio Tiquet-Rivera ("Tiquet"), and thirteen (13) others in the Houston Division of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The sixty-five (65) page, twenty-five (25) count indictment stemmed from a government-sponsored "sting" operation involving the laundering of funds through Mexico money exchange houses known as "Casas de Cambio" with funds represented by the federal law enforcement officers to have been proceeds of unlawful narcotics and firearms trafficking.

In Count One, all defendants were charged with conspiring to launder money in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 371. Castaneda was specifically charged in Counts Two, Three, Five, Seven through Thirteen, Fifteen, Sixteen and Eighteen with money laundering in violation of Secs. 1956(a)(3) and (2). In Counts Twenty and Twenty-one Castaneda was charged with failure to file Reports of International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments ("CMIR") in violation of Title 31 U.S.C. Sec. 5316(a)(1)(A). Tiquet was specifically charged in Counts Two, Three, Four, Six, Fourteen and Seventeen with money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. Secs. 1956(a)(3) and (2). In Count Twenty-five, Tiquet was charged with possessing Methaqualone with the intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C). Prior to trial Tiquet pled guilty only to Count Twenty-five, possessing Methaqualone with intent to distribute.

Although the Grand Jury returned the Indictment in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas, the district court found that none of the defendants, government witnesses or events alleged in the indictment had any relation to the Houston Division of the court and transferred the case on a joint defense motion to the McAllen Division. The district judge in McAllen, Texas recused himself from hearing the case and it was subsequently transferred to the Corpus Christi Division of the court. The case was finally transferred to the Brownsville Division of the court, the Honorable Filemon B. Vela presiding, where it was tried to a jury. Trial began on July 8, 1992 and continued through July 31, 1992. On July 29, 1992, the jury convicted Castaneda of fourteen (14) of the sixteen (16) counts in which he was charged, including Count One--the conspiracy charge, and acquitted him of the two (2) counts of failing to file Reports of International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments ("CMIR") pursuant to Title 31 U.S.C. Sec. 5316(a)(1)(A). The jury convicted Tiquet of all the remaining counts in which he was charged, including Count One--the conspiracy charge.

On October 9, 1992, the district court sentenced Castaneda to 60 months on Count One and 108 months on each of the other counts, all to run concurrently, a three (3) year term of supervised release on each count, to run concurrently, and $700.00 in special assessments. The court also sentenced Tiquet to 60 months on Count One and 120 months on each of the other counts, all sentences to run concurrently, a three (3) year term of supervised release on each count, to run concurrently, and $400.00 in special assessments.

Facts

The charges of money laundering against Francisco Castaneda-Cantu ("Castaneda") and Jose Antonio Tiquet-Rivera ("Tiquet") were the result of an investigation lasting approximately two (2) years by the United States Custom Service in McAllen, Texas of the importation of large sums of U.S. currency into the United States from Mexico by the representatives of Casa de Cambio Colon. In July of 1989, Special Agent Vincent Iglio of the United States Customs Service noticed the Casa de Cambio Colon was transporting millions of U.S. dollars on a weekly basis into McAllen, Texas via the McAllen airport and was completing the required Report of International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments ("CMIR") which reflected that the couriers carried money on behalf of Casa de Cambio Colon. The money was then transferred to various accounts across the United States. Although businesses such as Casa de Cambio's ostensibly made their profit from trading on the exchange rate between the United States dollar and the Mexican peso, the agents suspected, based on the volume of cash, that the money actually was booty which had been smuggled into Mexico from an illegal activity in the United States and was being "laundered" by the Casa de Cambio Colon to appear to be the proceeds of trading on the dollar/peso exchange rate.

The Customs Service consequently initiated a complex and costly undercover investigation into the importation of the U.S. currency. Two (2) Custom Service undercover agents were involved in the operation. The first, Ventura Cerda, known undercover as Vincente Serna, posed as a drug and weapons trafficker to see whether the Casa de Cambio Colon would agree to launder money. Special Agent J.J. Munoz, known undercover as Jessie Martinez, joined Agent Cerda in the operation.

Agents Cerda and Munoz set up an undercover operation in which they established three (3) businesses which appeared on the surface to be legitimate. The three (3) were Choza Rica Exports, Archer Enterprises and Impex Enterprises. Bank accounts at First City Texas Bank, McAllen, Texas and Barkley's Bank U.K. London, England were opened. Agent Cerda testified that he played the role of a drug and weapons smuggler, posing as a representative of a criminal organization that needed to launder the proceeds of its illegal narcotics trafficking and weapons smuggling.

On October 26, 1989, Special Agent Ventura Cerda telephoned the office of Casa de Cambio Colon in Monterrey, Mexico and spoke to Rogelio Rodriguez, the owner of the Casa de Cambio Colon, regarding their money laundering services. Subsequently, Agent Cerda discussed the possibility of money laundering with Rodriguez. Although Rodriguez was hesitant to become involved, he eventually agreed to make a referral to another person who could take care of the "dirty money." Rodriguez also inquired what percentage Agent Cerda was willing to pay for the laundering service.

On February 4, 1991, Agent Cerda received a telephone call from Francisco Castaneda-Cantu, who identified himself as an employee of the Casa de Cambio Libra in Monterrey. Castaneda indicated that Rodriguez had instructed him to call Agent Cerda concerning Cerda's money problems. This led to a meeting in Rio Grande City, Texas, on February 5, 1991, between Agent Cerda, Castaneda, Tiquet and Gonzalez (also a defendant). At this meeting, Tiquet identified himself as the owner of Casa de Cambio Libra while Gonzalez represented himself to be the attorney for the Casa de Cambio Libra. A deal was struck wherein the three (3) agreed to launder money for Agent Cerda at the following commission rates: 5% for $50,000.00 to $75,000.00, 4% for over $75,000.00 to $150,000.00 and 3% for over $150,000.00. Agent Cerda testified that he told the trio the monies were the proceeds of illegal narcotics trafficking and weapons smuggling. Shortly after this meeting, Rodriguez telephoned Cerda to confirm he referred Tiquet, Castaneda and Gonzales and to vouch for their abilities.

On February 19, 1991, the first in a series of money laundering transactions began. On that day, Agent Cerda met with Tiquet and Hector Espinoza, also a defendant, at Pendergrass Electronics in McAllen, Texas. The money was laundered under the following plan: Tiquet and Espinoza met Agent Cerda at a location in McAllen, Texas, received the U.S. currency, and telephoned Castaneda in Mexico to confirm the receipt of the money. Castaneda then wire transferred an amount of money equal to the amount received by Tiquet and Espinoza from the accounts of the Casa de Cambio Colon in the First City Bank of Texas, to undercover accounts given by Agent Cerda. Tiquet and Espinoza were then to either smuggle the cash received from Agent Cerda across the Mexican border or deposit it into the accounts of Casa de Cambio Colon at the First City Texas Bank. Castaneda generated a fictitious receipt for the money which indicated that the wire transferred money originated from a pesos for dollars exchange in Monterrey, Mexico. This scheme created a paper trail that made it appear as if the money going into Agent Cerda's account originated from a pesos for dollars exchange in Monterrey, Mexico rather than from illegal activities in the United States. For these services Tiquet, Castaneda and Espinoza charged Agent Cerda a fee as per the rates described at the initial meeting.

From February 19, 1991 until February 13, 1992, a number of transactions, which were detailed in the indictment, took place involving Tiquet and Castaneda as well as the other 13 defendants named in the indictment. These transactions took place in "out of the way" locations and Tiquet and Castaneda received a substantial fee for each money laundering transaction based on the amount of money laundered. Defendants, Castaneda and Tiquet, were subsequently indicted by...