A former high-level Drug Enforcement Administration official allegedly believed he was helping a Mexican cartel spread cocaine in the US and offered to launder millions of dollars for the notorious group, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Paul Campo, who rose through the ranks to eventually become the agency’s deputy chief of the Office for Financial Operations, and his alleged accomplice, Robert Sensi, were duped by a “confidential source” posing as a member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), paving the way for their arrests Thursday, the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office said.
Campo and Sensi started working with the undercover, who was being guided by law enforcement, around late 2024, according to federal prosecutors.
Sensi, of Florida, had promised the clandestine source that Campo, of Virginia, would be valuable to CJNG, a designated terror group by the US, because he had sensitive DEA intel about sources and probes, according to the feds.
Campo worked for the DEA for 25 years before retiring in 2016.
The two suspects advised the posing cartel member about fentanyl production and the possibility of obtaining commercial drones and military-level weapons, the feds alleged.
The two would allegedly brag about Campo’s law enforcement career and deep knowledge in financial probes and drug groups.
Campo, 61, and Sensi, 75, allegedly offered to launder up to $12 million of what they thought were CJNG narcotics proceeds and did launder $750,000 that was converted from cash into cryptocurrency, but ended up only flowing to the US government, prosecutors alleged.
They also paid for about 200 kilograms of cocaine, with the understanding it would be sold for $5 million as part of drug sales, including in New York City, with Campo and Sensi getting a cut of the profits, law enforcement alleged.
Campo and Sensi were hit with conspiring to commit narcoterrorism, conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiring to provide material support to the cartel, prosecutors said.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty and were detained following the hearing Friday.
“By participating in this scheme, Campo betrayed the mission he was entrusted with pursuing for his 25-year career with the DEA,” US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton in a statement.
“CJNG is a violent and corrupting criminal enterprise that New Yorkers want broken. I commend the extraordinary efforts of the DEA in aggressively pursuing CJNG and those who support their deadly and corrupt efforts, no matter who they may be.”