A music promoter who agreed to launder $100,000 that he believed have been drug proceeds was sentenced in San Diego federal court Monday to 18 months in jail.
Hugo Lever pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit cash laundering for accepting money from an individual he believed was a drug trafficker, however was really an undercover federal agent, in keeping with prosecutors.
A prison criticism filed final 12 months states a confidential informant advised legislation enforcement officers that Lever was in search of buyers to fund a music competition in Ensenada and had been “laundering drug proceeds domestically and internationally utilizing live performance and occasion promotion corporations.”
Lever, described within the criticism because the chief government officer of Calexico-based DA Music Leisure, met with the spy in Might of 2019 at a restaurant in Del Mar.
The spy described themselves as a narcotics trafficker and specified that the cash Lever would obtain got here from drug gross sales, in keeping with the criticism, which states Lever mentioned “he was nobody to evaluate” and defined to the agent how he used DA Music Leisure to launder cash.
About two months later, Lever met with one other spy in El Cajon and acquired $100,000 in money. His plea settlement states that he wired simply over $85,000 to a checking account supplied by the agent and saved simply over $14,000 as a “laundering payment/fee.”
Lever’s co-defendant and enterprise companion, Juan Gonzalez-Fonseca, additionally attended the conferences with the spy. He additionally pleaded responsible and was sentenced final week to credit score for time served for just below 450 days spent in jail.
