US-MEXICO: Celis Now Accused of Laundering Millions

State and local investigators raided the downtown office of Mauricio Celis on Friday, in search of evidence that the local businessman laundered millions of dollars across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Celis awaits trial after a grand jury indicted him for falsely holding himself as a lawyer, impersonating a police officer, aggravated perjury, and theft.

On Friday, investigators were looking for evidence to support their suspicions that Celis has also been laundering money.

Through its investigation, the Texas Attorney General's office believes Celis has been laundering money across the U.S.-Mexican border.

They zeroed in on one of his suspected Mexican business associates and found out he has a history with drug traffickers in Mexico.

In an affidavit for a search warrant, the attorney general's office says Celis has committed the felony offense of money laundering and that evidence of the crime can be found in computer files and other documents stored at his office.

Investigators raided Celis' eighth floor office in the Prosperity Bank building Friday, where his firm, CGT law group, operated.

A number of financial records client settlements and flight logs were written on the lengthy inventory list of items hauled away.

In a written statement sent to 6 news, Celis' attorney Tony Canales wrote, "We're looking at a political vendetta by an openly ambitious Republican politician in Austin who wants to score points by persecuting a prominent Democrat in South Texas."

While Celis has contributed thousands of dollars to many Democratic candidates over the years, investigators have turned their attention to a different series of transactions.

The affidavit states that from early 2000 to 2007, more than $7.8 million was withdrawn from a variety of local banks and after each withdrawal, Celis traveled to Mexico.

Records obtained from frost bank introduced them to a man named of Raul Armando Winder, a Mexican citizen, whom Celis opened a joint bank account with in 2005 for a company named "Pegasus Air Services."

According to Mexican intelligence, Winder is a pilot and a former Mexican police officer whose past employment history links him to drug trafficking.

Online Reporter: Erin Cargile

http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7581380&nav=Bsmh