Jury convicts El Paso attorney in connection with multi-million dollar fraud, money laundering scheme

EL PASO, Texas — A federal jury on Wednesday convicted an El Paso attorney in connection with a multi-million dollar wire fraud and money laundering scheme.  

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated this case.

Marco Antonio Delgado (aka Marco Delgado Licon), 50, was found guilty on three counts of wire fraud, seven counts of money laundering, and nine counts of engaging in monetary transactions of criminally derived property.

According to court documents and trial testimony, in January 2010, Delgado, as a legal representative of FGG Enterprises Inc. (FGG), signed a $121 million contract between FGG and the Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE), a Mexican-state-owned utility company, for the acquisition and installation of power turbines for the Agua Prieta II power plant in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico. Pursuant to the agreement, payments from CFE to FGG were to be deposited into a FGG bank account in El Paso.

Evidence during trial also revealed that Delgado, for his personal profit and without the consent of the sole owner of FGG, submitted a fraudulent written request to CFE, causing the payments that were supposed to be made to FGG to instead be deposited in an account in the Turks and Caicos Island, where Delgado controlled the funds. As a result, the first two payments from CFE — one March 8, 2010, in the amount of $20 million, and one July 6, 2010, in the amount of $12 million — were deposited into the bank account in the Turks and Caicos Islands, instead of FGG’s account.

Delgado subsequently diverted millions from the account in the Turks and Caicos Islands. He used the monies to purchase a residence in El Paso and a condominium in Taos, New Mexico, among other things. Delgado faces up 20 years in federal prison for each of the wire fraud and money laundering counts. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison on each of the remaining counts. Delgado also faces criminal forfeiture to the government of proceeds traceable to his illegal scheme, including his residence and furnishings in El Paso and condominium in New Mexico.

Delgado has been in federal custody since his arrest in November 2012.  No sentencing date has been scheduled.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Debra Kanof, Anna Arreola and Jose Luis Gonzalez, Western District of Texas, are prosecuting this case.