Former Mexico governor arrested for alleged money laundering

9/12/2025 12:33

Cesar Duarte, the former governor of the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, was arrested on Monday over alleged money laundering, the nation's attorney general's office said in a statement.



The attorney general's office said in a statement Duarte was likely involved in money laundering while acting as a public servant in Chihuahua.



Duarte, who governed the state of northern border state for the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) from 2010 to 2016, is accused of helping divert more than 96 million pesos, the then-equivalent of $6.5 million, from the government between 2011 and 2014.



He was reportedly on parole in Chihuahua when he was arrested and is now set to be transferred to a maximum security prison in the State of Mexico, newspaper El Pais reported.



Duarte had previously been extradited to Mexico in June 2022 over embezzlement charges after being held in the United States for nearly two years following his detention in Miami, Florida, in July 2020.



Mexico's attorney general's office said the U.S. government had in 2024 requested to prosecute Duarte for charges "other than embezzlement and criminal association."