DOJ IG: DEA May Have Used Income Generating Undercover Operations to Assist Cartels

DOJ IG: DEA May Have Used Income Generating Undercover Operations to Assist Cartels

Written by Radix Verum
June 17, 2020 at 3:20 pm

June 17, 2020 – Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz issued a scathing report Wednesday on the Drug Enforcement Agency. Horowitz and his team learned the DEA failed to properly monitor undercover agents who had infiltrated drug cartels and participated in illegal acts to gather evidence. This lapse undoubtedly led to an increase in drugs flowing into the United States.

In one instance, a DEA agent helped a drug cartel member purchase an aircraft. The DEA had no documentation that it took any action to ‘mitigate the risk’ that the aircraft would be used by the cartel members to perpetuate their crimes, the report claims.

Although the DEA has defended its programs, Mr. Horowitz claimed we have no way to calculate the human cost and collateral damage the program has caused. He says there were steps that should have been taken to mitigate these risks and be accountable.

The time frame that the Inspector General and his team audited was between 2015-2017. This includes time during the Obama administration which includes the Fast and Furious gun running scheme by Eric Holder, et al.

According to Josh Gerstein with Politico in an article entitled “Watchdog Report Slams DEA’s Money Laundering Operations“:

The Drug Enforcement Administration laundered tens of millions of dollars in the course of drug trafficking investigations over the past decade without complying with laws governing such operations, according to a newly released review from the Justice Department’s in-house watchdog.

Justice’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the DEA failed to move millions of dollars in profits from completed operations to the U.S. Treasury and did not report all such undercover operations to Congress as the law requires.

Horowitz’s review echoed many of the findings that fueled a controversy almost a decade ago over a federal gunrunning investigation known as ‘Operation Fast and Furious,’ that allowed suspected gun traffickers to purchase weapons in order to trace their flow.

As many as 2,000 of the weapons crossed the border into Mexico, investigators found, prompting a loud outcry against the Obama administration from Republicans in Congress.

Drug trafficking organizations ‘are not only involved in drug trafficking, but also participate in violent crimes and have been linked to terrorism,’ the new IG report finds. This elevates the risks that the DEA’s involvement in money laundering activity may inadvertently support particularly egregious criminal activity. Despite these risks, officials in the DEA and in the Department conveyed the idea that allowing money to ‘walk’ is not as inherently risky as letting drugs or guns ‘walk.’

The report also indicates that DEA sometimes changed the focus or nature of the undercover operations without seeking the appropriate approvals from higher-ups at DOJ. In one instance, a narco-terrorist was added as a new, ‘atypical’ target of a DEA money laundering effort, without high-level approval. – Josh Gerstein, Politico 

This is especially troubling when you consider the massive increase in drug overdose deaths, and drug use among United States youths. Mr. Horowitz and his team made 19 recommendations to the DEA to address their “shortcomings.”

Back in 2015, also during the Obama administration, it was discovered that the DEA was having “orgies” and “sex parties” with what they claim were prostitutes hired by the cartel. It’s my personal belief, based on years of research that these were trafficking victims, not “prostitutes.”

Researcher Dawson Fields has put together an incredible thread details some of the more egregious and salacious claims:

This interaction between U.S. Intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies and the cartels is something that needs more investigation.

The IG Report exposes incredible fraud and waste of U.S. tax payer money.

The OIG noted that those figures are from the DEA and that they are not vouching for them.

Unfortunately, some of these illicit funds may have ended up funding terrorists. We then have to ask, did U.S. law enforcement agencies contribute to our adversaries and terror funding? From what I have seen, it looks like the DEA often let the biggest players escape, without providing any reasoning behind this. It appears they assisted certain cartels in consolidating power by going after their rivals. There is so much still unaccounted for. The DEA, as well as other law enforcement and intelligence agencies need to be investigated for these corrupt activities.

This OIG report while definitive in what it covers, fails to address the issue of a U.S. law enforcement agency fielding agents into operations fraught with blackmailing and corruption opportunities. Moreover, it would appear that the oversight provided within the hierachy of the agency had a convenient blind eye in the process.

How can we expect faith to be restored in the system, when the system is not even capable of policing itself?

This story is still developing. Please check back for updates. 

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Vicky Shoupe
Vicky Shoupe
7 months ago

So many institutions corrupted for so long. If not for POTUS we all could be in despair with no recourse. Kinda like living in the Soviet Union during the cold war with corruption as the way of life. That’s not America!

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Donna M Duncan
Donna M Duncan
6 months ago

Don’t Know Where You Find The Time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So Many Deep Dives !!! Thank you #radix

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