Wells Fargo branch manager sent to prison for laundering money of drug traffickers

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

A former Wells Fargo branch manager has been ordered to federal prison for helping a drug trafficking ring launder their money through his bank. 36-year-old Stephen Roland Reyna pleaded guilty September 1, 2021, and was sentenced to 20 months in prison on Thursday.

At the hearing, the court said that Reyna was given and held a position of trust with the bank, of which he took advantage. In handing down the sentence, the court noted the amount of money Reyna laundered and the sequence of events in which he participated.

“If you help drug traffickers ‘clean’ their money, you will be prosecuted,” said U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani. “It is especially disappointing that a bank manager for Wells Fargo chose to violate his position of trust for easy money, money from organizations that are destroying our communities.”

Reyna was the manager of a Wells Fargo branch in Harlingen. Using his position and knowledge of the banking industry, he assisted a drug trafficking organization to launder $410,000 in drug sale proceeds.

The organization would transport multi-kilogram cocaine loads from the Rio Grande Valley to northern states. Upon successful delivery, thousands of dollars in drug proceeds would then be dispersed through multiple Wells Fargo bank accounts in the northern states.

Reyna would coordinate with multiple co-conspirators in the Rio Grande Valley to launder the funds through their accounts at Wells Fargo. He ensured the proceeds were successfully withdrawn from his branch in Harlingen.

Co-conspirators would frequently pay Reyna in cash right after he helped them get their drug proceeds out of the bank. Reyna ultimately admitted he suspected the funds were from illegal activity, including narcotics trafficking.

The disgraced banker was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

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