Guillermo Billy Álvarez was arrested on Thursday in Mexico City. Agents from the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) executed the court order almost five years after a judge released the arrest warrant.
The FGR reported that after carrying out investigative work, Álvarez was located south of Mexico City. The detainee was wanted by Interpol in 196 countries for various crimes.
(Photo: FGR)
What did Billy Álvarez do?
At the federal level, Álvarez is accused of organized crime and operations with resources of illicit origin.
In Mexico City, the former director was wanted for fraudulent administration.
In 2020, a federal judge considered that Álvarez was the possible leader of a criminal organization dedicated to laundering money from the cooperative through front companies.
At that time, the judge also issued other arrest warrants against members of the cooperative, such as the financial director; the legal director; a former legal director, and external counsel. All of them are considered part of that alleged criminal organization.
The accusation indicates that, for at least six years, those investigated organized to repeatedly dispose of resources owned by the cooperative.
Those indicated authorized and made payments of invoices for non-existent services to companies that invoice simulated operations, without having the power to represent the aggrieved company, thereby hiding or attempting to hide the destination of the illicit resources.
It is estimated that the modus operandi resulted in damage to the cooperative of several hundred million pesos.
On May 29 of that year, the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) froze the bank accounts of senior managers of the cooperative, after detecting irregular movements. He then clarified that the cooperative and team accounts were still active so as not to affect his staff.
