FBI agents search home, business of Tennessee state senator

ADRIAN SAINZ and JONATHAN MATTISE

Associated PressFebruary 21, 2020, 3:36 PM EST

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Federal authorities in Tennessee conducted searches Friday at the home and business addresses of Democratic state Sen. Katrina Robinson, the FBI said.

Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman Joel Siskovic confirmed that agents executed search warrants at two locations in Memphis. They are listed as addresses for Robinson's residence and her nursing school, Healthcare Institute Inc.

The FBI declined to discuss any additional details of the searches and the U.S. attorney's office in Memphis said it “will not comment on the nature or progress of any FBI activities before charges are publicly filed.”

No one responded Friday to a knock on the door of the school, which sits in a strip mall in southeast Memphis. Robinson didn't immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment.

Her legislative office forwarded a request to a Senate Democratic Caucus spokesman.

“We’ve been made aware of the investigation and have received no indication that it relates to the legislature or her legislative service,”said Brandon Puttbrese, spokesman for the Senate Democratic Caucus. “Because the investigation is ongoing, we will not be making additional statements and will defer any further questions to Sen. Robinson’s attorney."

Puttbrese also said the caucus' thoughts are with Robinson and her family. Robinson was elected to the state Senate out of a Memphis district in 2018.

Edward L. Stanton II of Butler Snow LLP emailed a statement saying only that he had been retained by Robinson “in connection with today's events.”

The school's website says it received a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a certified nursing assistant program focused on geriatric populations and educational programs.

The school was founded in January 2015. Its certified nursing assistant program was introduced that July. The school also includes phlebotomy and electrocardiography technician instruction.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/fbi-agents-search-home-business-203608695.html

U.S. charges ex-DEA agent with laundering millions in drug funds

By Brad Heath

ReutersFebruary 21, 2020, 6:28 PM ES

WASHINGTON Feb 21 (Reuters) - U.S. authorities arrested a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent on Friday on charges he conspired with Colombian drug traffickers to steal millions of dollars the U.S. government had seized from suspected dealers.

In an indictment unsealed Friday, prosecutors said Jose Irizarry had been "enriching himself by secretly using his position and his special access to information." He used the money, they said, to fund a lavish lifestyle of expensive homes and cars and a $30,000 Tiffany ring.

Federal prosecutors said Irizarry used his position with the drug agency to launder money with the help of what they described as a "Colombia-based drug trafficking and money laundering organization" that he was ostensibly investigating. Prosecutors also charged his wife, Nathalia Gomez-Irizarry.

FBI agents arrested Irizarry and his wife Friday in Puerto Rico. They are charged with 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy and identity theft.

Prosecutors alleged that Irizarry, once a decorated agent, took advantage of a particularly sensitive type of undercover DEA investigation, in which agents pose as money launderers, collecting cash from drug dealers and funneling it through undercover bank accounts. They said Irizarry secretly diverted that money instead to accounts he and other conspirators controlled.

In late 2013, prosecutors said, Irizarry helped collect nearly $1.1 million from suspected drug dealers that was deposited into undercover DEA bank accounts. Irizarry then had more than half of that money wired to accounts controlled by one of his associates.

Two years later, Irizarry helped collect more than 1 million euros in "bulk cash" from traffickers in the Netherlands, then had $141,000 wired to a car dealer for himself and the head of the Colombian trafficking group.

Irizarry and the unnamed conspirators used the money to "purchase jewelry, luxury vehicles, a home, and to make cash gifts to friends and family," according to the indictment.

Irizarry resigned from the DEA in 2018. A lawyer assigned to represent Irizarry, Jose L. Novas-Debien, could not immediately be reached for comment.

His arrest is the latest black eye for the DEA. Last week, another former agent was sentenced to prison for helping traffickers smuggle thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Puerto Rico to New York. (Reporting by Brad Heath Editing by Andy Sullivan and Tom Brown)

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-charges-ex-dea-agent-232859274.html