Ex-Mexican governor sentenced to 3 years in US prison

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — A U.S. judge in Texas on Wednesday sentenced a former governor of a northern state in Mexico to three years in prison following his guilty plea last year in a money laundering scheme, prosecutors said.

Former Coahuila state Gov. Jorge Juan Torres López, 67, had pleaded guilty to money laundering in June 2020 in Corpus Christi.

The U.S. Department of Justice said that Torres, who is not a U.S. citizen, is expected to face removal proceedings after he serves his sentence. He served as governor of Coahuila, which borders Texas, for much of 2011.

Prosecutors said Torres worked for the Mexican government from 1994 to 2011 and had served in other roles as well. Prosectors said he admitted that during some of his time in office, he conducted financial transactions in the U.S. to conceal bribes he had gotten in return for road-building contracts in Coahuila.

Torres, who was indicted in 2013, was arrested in Mexico in February 2019 and extradited to the U.S. in October 2019.

Prosecutors said that as part of his plea, Torres agreed to forfeit a property in the U.S. that was associated with the payments.