Man Pleads Guilty in Lexington Money Laundering Case Tied to Drug Cartels

Lexington, KY — In a significant legal development involving international drug cartel money laundering, Jose Manuel Martinez Gomez has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky to conspiring to commit money laundering. Martinez admitted to helping launder approximately $5.5 million in drug proceeds through a complex network of couriers and cryptocurrency transactions.

According to court records, Martinez, who was operating from Mexico between January 2022 and May 2024, coordinated with co-conspirators to collect bulk cash from illicit drug sales across multiple U.S. cities, including Lexington, Kentucky. The funds were deposited into U.S. bank accounts and subsequently converted into cryptocurrency, making the transactions harder to trace.

Martinez was arrested at the Salt Lake City International Airport and was found in possession of a phone used to arrange multiple money drops, including one in Boone County, Kentucky. DEA agents, who had infiltrated the money laundering network, gathered substantial evidence of Martinez’s operations, which included arranging over 60 money contracts with individual transactions averaging $100,000.

Court documents indicate that Martinez directed couriers to verify each transaction using a designated bill code—a serial number from a U.S. dollar bill—to ensure the legitimacy of the transfers. Once cash was deposited into bank accounts, the funds were moved to cryptocurrency wallets under Martinez’s direction, obscuring their origins and allowing cartel proceeds to be repatriated to Mexico.

This case is related to the conviction of a Lexington man, Jamele Mundy, who was recently sentenced for fentanyl trafficking and conspiracy to launder drug proceeds. The co-defendants were part of a broader operation involving international money laundering and narcotics distribution, further highlighting the scope of cartel influence in Kentucky.

This case is part of a broader crackdown on money laundering networks linked to drug cartels, particularly the Sinaloa Cartel and Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), which have increasingly utilized digital assets to launder illicit profits. Federal agencies have intensified efforts to dismantle these operations, leading to multiple high-profile arrests and seizures of assets in recent years.

Martinez faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the value of the laundered funds. Under the terms of his plea agreement, he has also consented to the forfeiture of $100,000 in proceeds obtained from his illicit activities. His sentencing is scheduled for June 20 in Lexington.