Former State of Coahuila Treasurer Hector Javier Villarreal pleads guilty in San Antonio federal court

By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2014, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.

Former State of Coahuila Treasurer Hector Javier Villarreal, age 43, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, September 17, 2014, to two counts of a criminal federal indictment charging him with money laundering conspiracy and conspiring to transport stolen money in foreign commerce in a San Antonio case and to one count of conspiring to launder money in a Corpus Christi case before United States District Judge Xavier Rodriguez for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division, in San Antonio, Texas.

Villarreal served as Treasurer of the State of Coahuila under the administration of former Governor Humberto Moreira Valdez. During Villarreal’s tenure as Treasurer of the State of Coahuila, Coahuila incurred a public debt of over $3 billion. Villarreal is also wanted by Mexican prosecutors for alleged financial crimes regarding the falsification of official documents to obtain credit for the State of Coahuila.

Villarreal faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each of the money laundering counts that he plead guilty to and up to five years on the conspiracy to transporting stolen money in foreign commerce count.

U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez did not set Villarreal’s sentencing date.

U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman for the Western District of Texas and his office are in charge of prosecuting these cases against Villarreal.