Former Congressman Involved in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States

Former congressman from the Dominican Republic, Miguel Gutierrez, has agreed to a plea deal for conspiracy to traffic drugs into the United States. Gutierrez, who was arrested in May 2021 at Miami International Airport after arriving on a flight from the Dominican Republic, admitted to being part of a network operating in his home country of Colombia that conspired to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine from 2014 to 2020. The plea deal, finalized in December 2022 in the Southern District of Florida, also noted that Gutierrez conspired to launder money. The former congressman from Santiago faces a 10-year prison sentence for drug trafficking and up to 20 years for money laundering. He also faces fines of up to $10 million for the drug conspiracy charge and up to $500,000 for the second charge. The prosecution recommended a 16-year prison sentence for both charges.