Colo. Dealer Accused of Money Laundering
The owner of Chopeque Auto Sales and two others were taken into custody on suspicion of selling vehicles to known drug dealers and falsifying down payment amounts, liens and titles.
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Federal agents raided Chopeque Auto Sales Tuesday, and took its owner, Raul Mendoza, and two others into custody for allegedly using the dealership to launder drug money, reports The Denver Post.
Mendoza, Julia Castillo Caraveo and Isidro Noe Mendoza-Ortiz are accused of selling vehicles to known drug dealers and funneling the profit into bank accounts to conceal its source. They are also suspected of falsifying down payment amounts, liens and titles "to provide a mechanism for getting the vehicle released from law enforcement if it were ever seized for drug trafficking," according to the indictment.
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