NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Tony Hernandez, a former Honduran congressman and brother of the sitting president, was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years for drug trafficking by a U.S. judge on Tuesday.
Hernandez, 42, was convicted on drug charges and related weapons charges in October 2019. Hernandez will also be forced to pay $138.5 million in forfeiture, which prosecutors in their sentencing memo https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2BA06J wrote was “blood money” from drug trafficking.
“This is state-sponsored drug trafficking and this is exactly the type of conduct the government should be targeting, because of the impact it has on Honduras,” U.S. prosecutor Matthew Laroche said.
“Honduras is one of the principal drug transhipment places in the world and one of the most violent places in the world.”
Laroche went on to say that the “depth of corruption” set Hernandez’s case apart.
“He secured protection from investigation, arrest and extradition by paying massive bribes to politicians, like his brother, and like (former president) Porfirio Lobo Sosa,” Laroche said.
He said Hernandez had accepted millions in bribes, including $1 million from El Chapo Guzman, to funnel into the ruling National Party’s coffers for elections in 2009, 2013, and 2017 to benefit his brother, President Juan Orlando Hernandez.
President Hernandez has denied the allegations and he has not been charged with a crime.
