A once-standout DEA agent who used his badge to build a lavish lifestyle of luxury cars and Tiffany jewelry has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for conspiring to launder money with a Colombian cartel.
But even as José Irizarry admitted to his crimes, he blamed former colleagues at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for fostering a culture of corruption that desensitized him to the implications of violating the law.
Irizarry’s allegations underscore the porous oversight he received during his career, in which he was entrusted with the government’s use of front companies, shell bank accounts and couriers to combat international drug trafficking. The DEA has been shaken by repeated cases of misconduct in recent years, including agents charged with wire fraud, bribery and selling firearms to drug traffickers. Thursday’s hearing came just four months after another longtime DEA agent, Chad Scott, wasbehind bars for stealing money from suspects, falsifying government records and committing perjury.
To further the scheme, prosecutors said, Irizarry filed false reports and ordered DEA staff to wire money slated for undercover stings to international accounts he and associates controlled. The money should’ve been carefully tracked by the DEA as part of undercover money laundering investigations, prosecutors said.
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