Sentencing Deal For Aguilar?

Sources in LA say prosecutors have offered Angela Aguilar a sentencing deal if she drops her motion for judgment of acquittal, due to be heard June 13.

Aguilar, 56, a Mexican citizen, was convicted in May of conspiracy to launder money.

The deal: immediate sentencing to time-served on her money laundering conspiracy conviction (about nine months in custody without bail since her August arrest in Houston), a probationary sentence, a lifting of the immigration hold placed on her last August, immediate release from prison, immediate return to Mexico, and no fine, but she must agree not to contest the government's seizure of about $3 million in family assets.

Judge A. Howard Matz will hear from the parties today (Friday, June 3). He has to approve any deal the DOJ offers on sentencing.

Judge Matz had set Aguilar's sentencing for August 12. She faces up to 20 years in prison.

Convicted with Aguilar were Dr. Keith Lindsey, 66, of La Canada, California, and Steve K. Lee, 60, of Diamond Bar. The jury found them guilty of one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and five counts of FCPA violations.

Lindsey and Lee face a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the FCPA conspiracy charge and five years on each of the five substantive FCPA counts.

Aguilar's husband, Enrique Faustino Aguilar Noriega, 56, of Cuernavaca, Mexico, was charged in a seven-count indictment with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, four substantive FCPA violations, money laundering conspiracy, and money laundering. He's a fugitive in Mexico. It isn't known if her sentencing deal is connected with his possible return to the U.S. to face charges or plead guilty.

The couple allegedly laundered money used to bribe an official of the Mexican state-owned electric utility, Comisión Federal de Electridad (CFE), on behalf of Lindsey Manufacturing. The indictment alleged that Noriega bought a yacht for $1.8 million and a Ferrari for $297,500 for a CFE official. He was also charged with paying more than $170,000 of American Express bills and sending about $600,000 to the CFE official's relatives.

Comments

[Justice? What Justice?]

Do you know why the government has offered this deal to Aguilar? Because they know the motion for judgement of acquittal is strong and the judge will likely grant it to her, since the government admittedly lied/mislead the jury to convict this woman (per 5/2 blog). OUR GOVERNMENT LIED! They lied about Aguilar, they lied about Lindsey and they lied about Lee! The government doesn't want to weaken the conviction, so they are robbing this woman of $3M (not to mention her lawyer fees and 9 months of her life lost in prison) and sending her home... she should consider herself lucky? For a crime she never commit? The government has got a lucrative racket going on here! The innocent are no longer safe in this country - your government will find you guilty for something!

[John]

Has Aguilar been released? Did she take the deal? Was the deal offered in exchange for her husband?