A former longtime Drug Enforcement Administration agent who rose to help oversee the agency’s financial operations has been charged with agreeing to launder millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds for a Mexican drug cartel, according to an indictment unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in the Manhattan borough of New York City.
The former agent, Paul Campo, worked for the DEA for about 25 years, the indictment said, first as a special agent in New York and eventually rising to become a high-level official — the deputy chief of the Office of Financial Operations. He retired in January 2016 and now runs a private consulting business, according to the indictment.
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Campo laundered about $750,000 for the cartel by converting cash into cryptocurrency, and agreed to launder far more — $12 million in all, according to the indictment. He also provided a payment for about 220 kilograms of cocaine on the understanding that the drugs had been imported into the United States, the indictment said.
Campo has been charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The Mexican group, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department and maintains its vast drug trade through violence and the bribery of corrupt officials, the indictment said.
The indictment also charged another man, Robert Sensi, whom the indictment describes as an associate of Campo. A call to Campo’s office seeking comment was not immediately returned. Lawyers for Campo and Sensi could not immediately be identified.
This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/nyregion/dea-agent-money-laundering-mexican-cartel.html">The New York Times</a>.