The Mexican government recovered $5.8 million dollars from a lawsuit in the United States concerning the network of complicity in illicit activities involving the Weinberg family and related to Genaro García Luna after he left his position as Secretary of Security during the administration of Felipe Calderón.
According to President Claudia Sheinbaum, the recovered money will be allocated to schools in the mountainous region of Guerrero.
“(García Luna) is imprisoned in the United States because of his links to criminal organizations, particularly a criminal organization or the Sinaloa Cartel in the United States. The investigation in the United States did not include García Luna’s activities after he left his position as Secretary of Public Security,” Sheinbaum said.
She added:
“What happened after he was Secretary of Public Security? He devoted himself to doing shady business. How? Through various companies that supposedly provided security-related equipment, but in reality they involved fraud against public funds, contracts in which they never actually delivered what they were supposed to deliver, or exaggerated prices through this network, as the UIF investigated.”
The Mexican government “began an investigation in 2019, filed a criminal complaint, and later in the United States decided to file a civil lawsuit so that, at least, the money from the businesses he conducted with the Weinberg family could be returned to public funds,” the president explained.
The amounts correspond to estimates of the damage caused to public funds through contracts that resulted in excessive costs or were fraudulent.
Sheinbaum explained that “equipment was contracted but never arrived, although it was paid for, or equipment that cost 10 pesos was contracted for 100 pesos. So, this money is the estimate of all the fraud committed from 2012 to 2018.”
“Our objective is for these resources to be allocated to schools in the mountainous region of Guerrero. We are already working so that we can explain… upper-secondary and higher education in the mountains of Guerrero and, if basic education is also required,” as in that area and others, she said, around 100 million pesos will be allocated.
The head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), Omar Reyes Colmenares, explained that a scheme related to the diversion of public resources and transactions involving illicit proceeds was identified, based on contracts between the then Decentralized Administrative Body for Prevention and Social Readaptation and companies totaling more than 403 million dollars between 2008 and 2018.
The alleged scheme involved the simulation of service provisions, the coordinated participation of public officials and private individuals, and the use of shell companies, including NUNVAC.
The UIF filed a criminal complaint with the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) in December 2019 and subsequently filed a civil lawsuit in Florida, which concluded in September 2021.
In 2026, a final judgment was obtained in the Weinberg case in a Florida court for approximately 578.5 million dollars.
“Between 2015 and 2017, Genaro García Luna funded the conglomerate of companies with more than 305 million pesos and 27.8 million dollars, according to the information presented in the scheme. The Weinberg family played a relevant role by being part of the corporate structure linked to García Luna,” Colmenares explained.
The scheme is also linked to a network of shell companies that benefited from 30 government contracts at inflated prices in exchange for financial compensation.
He explained that “the Weinberg family simultaneously fulfilled three functions: they disguised bribes as ordinary commercial payments, simulated the material execution of the contracts, and maximized the amount of public resources that could be extracted, which were then dispersed through Barbados to other jurisdictions such as Miami, Florida, in the United States, among others, through transactions between companies and accounts linked to García Luna.”
Overall, he said, the scheme identified approximately 528 million pesos and 727.9 million dollars in diverted funds.
“What is relevant in this case is that financial intelligence analysis made it possible to trace the flow of money, identify the network of people and companies involved, and provide evidence for legal actions aimed at recovering the assets (…) The UIF filed a civil lawsuit before the Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade, Florida, to recover the diverted assets, where the legitimacy of the Mexican State to litigate the case was recognized.”
Following the judgment in favor of the Mexican State against the Weinberg family on May 19, 2026, on August 25 of the same year, the Mexican State received $5,805,693.50 dollars, derived from the recovery of a surety bond and the liquidation of 12 properties located in Florida, United States, linked to the Weinberg family.
Source: proceso
