El Paso businessman sentenced to 10 years for $100 million scheme
El Paso businessman Jose Luis Rodriguez has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role in a $100 million sneaker scheme.
Jose Luis Rodriguez’s attorney, Jim Darnell, was not happy with sentence despite the plea deal, saying his client should have got probation instead.
The Federal courtroom was filled with family members of Jose Luis Rodriguez who cried with him outside courtroom.
Prior to being sentenced, the 52-year-old “What is wrong is wrong and I ask for forgiveness and your mercy your honor.”
Waldermar Rodriguez, special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), along with other U.S. and Mexican agencies announced the sentence for Rodriguez, who pleaded guilty to spearheading a multi-million dollar criminal conspiracy.
In December 2014, Rodriguez was arrested with multiple money laundering conspiracy charges.
Rodriguez was the owner of ERENE Inc., an El Paso-based business which primarily sold shoes and other goods to U.S. and Mexican-based customers.
Also arrested was 41-year-old ERENE assistant manager Jorge Penuelas and 53-year-old ERENE employee Manuel Rodriguez.
ERENE did business as “J&E Sports”, “Rise High Skateshop”, “Quicken Footwear & Accessories”, “Pepes Casual”, “Arise 915”, and “Forward Footwear”.
According to Rodriguez’s indictment, which was just unsealed Thursday, ERENE had a retail sales agreement with Puma US and other shoe manufacturers, but Rodriguez began selling them wholesale instead.
“ERENE and the Mexican based wholesale purchasers used smugglers or ‘pasadors’ to unlawfully smuggle shoes into Mexico from the United States” in order to avoid tariffs, duties and fees imposed by Mexico.
The indictment obtained by ABC-7 says ERENE reported more than $100 million in non-taxable (wholesale) sales from January 2002 to July 2014.
Then came the money laundering conspiracy.
Prosecutors said the Mexican wholesale purchasers paid Rodriguez mostly in US dollars, which would be deposited into ERENE or Rodriguez’s bank accounts.
Rodriguez also used money orders to move the funds. Many of the transactions were structured, meaning they were carried out in amoungs of less than $10,000 to avoid detection by the US government.
Other charges alleged in the indictment include smuggling goods from the United States; engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity; conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud; mail fraud; and, wire fraud.
The sentence is a result of an HSI led joing investigation by the HSI El Paso-Financial Operations & Currency United Strike Force (FOCUS).
