Buffalo Man Pleads Guilty In Connection With Drug Trafficking Ring Linked To A Mexican Drug Cartel

CONTACT:      Barbara Burns
PHONE:         (716) 843-5817
FAX:            (716) 551-3051

BUFFALO, N.Y.-Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Bryant Hudson pleaded guilty to structuring transactions before U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Adler, who is handling the case, stated that the defendant was charged in an indictment along with six others in connection with a sophisticated drug trafficking organization with ties to a Mexican drug cartel operating out of the Los Angeles, California area. The organization shipped drug packages to various states including New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Colorado.

Hudson assisted in the depositing of drug proceeds in accounts at Bank of America branches in the Buffalo area in order to move the proceeds from Buffalo to California and avoid detection. The money was deposited in amounts just under $10,000, a practice known as structuring. Deposits of $10,000 or more require the bank to report the transaction. There were also deposits in bank branches across the country made by other defendants. The total amount of money deposited in this fashion reached more than $10,000,000. Local deposits totaled over $1,000,000 and involved at least 120 transactions.

Hudson is the first to be convicted in this case. Charges are pending against the remaining defendants. The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Today’s plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt, New York Field Division; Immigration and Custom Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Kelly; and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations Division, under the direction of Kathy A. Enstrom, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, New York Field Office. Additional assistance was provided by ICE-HSI in Los Angeles, California.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 11, 2017, at 10:00 a.m. before Judge Wolford.