Former Tamaulipas governor and presidential candidate Tómas Yarrington Rubalcava has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a charge of money laundering, federal court documents reflect.
Federal authorities said Yarrington is responsible for laundering between $3.5 and $9.5 million over a period of 14 years.
Yarrington appeared Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Rolando Olvera Jr., in a Houston courtroom, who sentenced him to 108 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, federal court documents reflect.
He was remanded to the custody of U.S. Marshals.
Yarrington’s sentence comes nearly two years after pleading guilty March 25, 2021, to one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
According to a factual summary of his case, Yarrington admitted to taking bribes while as governor of Tamaulipas knowing that the proceeds represented some forms of unlawful activity “and said transport, transmit and transfer was designed to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership and control of proceeds.”
Yarrington was Matamoros’ mayor from 1993 to 1995, and from 1999 to 2005 he was governor of Tamaulipas.
The U.S. government stated that from Jan. 1, 1998, to May 22, 2013, Yarrington engaged in conspiracy with others to transport and transmit funds from Mexico to the U.S. to conceal the ownership of the funds.
“These funds were proceeds of a specified unlawful activity, namely the payment of bribes while Yarrington was a public official in Mexico,” federal court documents reflect.
According to the factual summary, Yarrington used some of the proceeds to pay a portion of a note on property he owned at 149 Windward in Port Isabel.
Yarrington is named in a superseding indictment filed May 22, 2013, that charge him with conspiracy to import cocaine and marijuana, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.
He was accused of receiving bribes from the Gulf Cartel in the millions of dollars. According to the federal indictment, state police in Mexico would deliver the bribes to Yarrington.
Yarrington fled to Italy and was extradited back to the United States in April 2018.
Yarrington’s case went through legal proceedings for three years before his guilty plea in March 2021.
As part of the deal, Yarrington forfeited property purchased with proceeds from unlawful activity. He agreed to give up his claim to his residence on Windward Drive in Port Isabel.
After pleading guilty to a money laundering charge, Yarrington was remanded to the custody of U.S. Marshals.
As part of his plea agreement, federal authorities recommended a sentence ranging from 108 to 135 months.
