BOSTON – A Dominican national was sentenced on Friday, April 8, 2022, in federal court in Boston for his role in a money laundering conspiracy.
Jose Ernesto Pujols, 47, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to five years in prison. In July 2021, Pujols pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to launder money and one count of money laundering.
In March 2011, investigators identified foreign banks accounts involved in a larger drug and money laundering investigation of targets in the United States and Colombia. Undercover agents communicated with Pujols and arranged a meeting at a restaurant in Woburn to pick up drug proceeds for wiring to these foreign bank accounts. On March 2, 2011, Pujols arrived at the meeting location and provided the undercover agents with approximately $100,000 in drug proceeds.
In May 2011, Pujols was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston. Pujols was subsequently located in Spain and arrested by Spanish authorities in September 2019. Pujols was held in Spanish custody and extradited to the United States in March 2021.
United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins and Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division, made the announcement. Special assistance was provided by the Massachusetts State Police and the Bedford Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Neil J. Gallagher and Stephen W. Hassink of Rollins’ Criminal Division prosecuted the case.