Federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment Wednesday against Governor Rubén Rocha Moya of Mexico’s Sinaloa state and nine other current and former Mexican officials.
They have been charged with conspiring to protect the Sinaloa cartel in exchange for bribes and electoral assistance. The governor denied the allegations, saying on X that they “lack any truth whatsoever.”
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Prosecutors allege that the cartel “has partnered with corrupt politicians and law enforcement officials, including the current Governor of Sinaloa,” who “abused their authority in support of the Cartel, exposed and subjected victims to threats and violence, and sold out their offices in exchange for massive bribes.”
Mexico’s government said Tuesday it had received a U.S. extradition request for unspecified individuals but that it lacked sufficient evidence to act on it.
Rocha becomes the highest ranking member of the Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Morena party to be indicted by the United States. Her office has not yet responded to the indictment.
