Gerardo González Valencia (; born ) is a Mexican convicted drug lord and high-ranking member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a criminal group based in Jalisco. He is part of a clan that heads a CJNG money laundering branch known as Los Cuinis. He was responsible for coordinating international money laundering schemes by using shell companies to purchase assets in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. His wife Wendy Dalaithy Amaral Arévalo was reportedly working with him on this large money laundering scheme when the couple moved from Mexico to Uruguay in 2011.
The original documents of the investigation framing González Valencia were leaked in 2015 through the Panama Papers, where it detailed real estate transactions and industrial sector investments tied to him. After a multi-year investigation by Latin American officials and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, González Valencia was arrested in Montevideo, Uruguay, in April 2016, and imprisoned for money laundering charges. He was wanted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine. In May 2020, he was extradited to the U.S. and sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2023.
Early life Gerardo González Valencia was probably born in 1976, but sources disagree on his exact place of birth. A Uruguayan newspaper stated he was born in the United States and holds a Mexican citizenship. A Mexican newspaper states he was born in Aguilillia, Michoacán, Mexico. His parents were J. Abigael González Mendoza (father) and Estela Valencia Farías (mother).
He has several aliases, including Lalo, Silverio, Silver, Flaco, Eduardo, and Laline. According to the Mexican government, the González Valencia clan was made up of 18 siblings. The males are Abigael, José María, Arnulfo, Ulises Jovani, Elvis, Édgar Edén, Mauricio, Gerardo, José and Luis Ángel. The females are Rosalinda (also known as Rosalía), Noemí, Berenice, Marisa Ivette, María Elena, Érika and Abigaíl. People in their hometown in Michoacán nicknamed the clan "Cuinis" in reference to a squirrel from the area that is known as "Cuinique" (spermophilus adocetus). It is common for this squirrel to have over a dozen babies each time the mother gives birth.
In the 1990s, González Valencia was accused by a U.S. court of drug trafficking in California. His brother Abigael González Valencia (alias "El Cuini") and his in-law Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes (alias "El Mencho"), who spent few years in prison in the U.S., were also charged with drug trafficking in the U.S. in that decade. Since January 2003, González Valencia was reportedly responsible for distributing and/or using intermediaries to knowingly distribute at least of cocaine and methamphetamine to the U.S. In the indictment, sworn by a grand jury on 5 May 2015, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia stated that they would seize any drug proceeds that derived from this criminal conspiracy, or seek to forfeit assets equal to that total value.
Criminal career Time in Argentina González Valencia's envoys were detected in Argentina in 2009 when they moved to Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires. Argentinian officials also uncovered that they created an entity in Buenos Aires and opened a supermarket chain. The investigation started on 10 March 2009, when three Mexican nationals posing as tourists were driving a Chevrolet Astra and got involved in a car accident with another driver in Puerto Madero. The Mexicans were living in Torres Le Parc Puerto Madero, an upscale complex in the city. The Argentine Naval Prefecture got involved in the incident, but the three Mexicans threatened the officers and told them that in Mexico they would be dead for getting involved with them. The officers took note of the license plates of the vehicle before the Mexican nationals left.
Upon further investigation, they discovered that the Chevrolet Astra was owned by an Argentinian strawperson from Ituzaingó, Buenos Aires, and that the jurisdiction thus fell to officials in Morón, Buenos Aires. Officials in Morón began investigating the Mexican nationals and discovered that there was a suspicious entity, Círculo Internacional S.A., that served as a bar and café store. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) provided evidence to the investigators that the Mexican nationals were likely linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, but the Morón officials were not able to continue the investigation successfully.
On 9 September 2009, the three Mexicans inaugurated a convenience chain store, Corner, in Puerto Madero. The project included plans to open 15 stores with a US$2.5 million investment. They also bought a large storage facility and two other stores in Congreso and Microcentro that did not open. In mid-2010, however, the three individuals fled Argentina after the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) identified that one of Círculo Internacional S.A.'s sister companies, Círculo Comercial Total de Productos S.A., had invested millions of dollars to the Argentinian entity from Mexico with drug proceeds from Los Cuinis. Investigators later discovered that the three men worked with González Valencia.
He arrived in Argentina the following year and managed Círculo Internacional S.A. He lived at Hotel Faena and sent his three children to a private school in the northern part of the city, and investigators discovered that he paid 6 months of tuition in advance in cash. Círculo Internacional S.A. received about US$1.8 million sums as paid-in capital and deposited them at Banco de la Nación Argentina. Investigators believe that the money originally came from Los Cuinis. Argentinian authorities investigated if Los Cuinis had bought assets in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos, Salta, and Corrientes.
Relocation in Uruguay González Valencia and his family arrived to Uruguay in late 2011. They relocated because they wanted to live in a country where people would not recognize them. According to one of González Valencia's sons, his family left Mexico after they were threatened to death by a group of masked gunmen who entered their house to allegedly kill them. In Mexico, González Valencia reportedly owned a restaurant ran by Federico Tobares, an Argentinian chef who years later disappeared. Mexican investigators suspected that González Valencia was behind his disappearance.
In Uruguay, the family bought a mansion known as "Quincho Grande" in an upscale neighborhood in the resort city Punta del Este, Maldonado. The property was and was bought at US$2 million. The mansion had two houses, a pool, garage, laundry room, and a tennis and football field. A few months later, he bought several expensive cars, including two Audis and a Land Rover, and land lots in Punta Ballena and in other parts of Uruguay. González Valencia told residents at Punta del Este that he was from Mexico and that hunting was his profession. He enrolled his students at a private school there and tried to live a seemingly ordinary lifestyle like other wealthy residents from the area. He did not hide his luxurious lifestyle and was seen by residents driving expensive vehicles.
To launder his money, González Valencia worked through the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which created two shell companies on his behalf: Montella Global S.A. and Deltodo Enterprises. These two companies purchased assets in Uruguay by working through Asesores y Consultores del Sur Ltda. (Asconsur), consulting company in Montevideo that worked as their intermediary. Their main point of contact in Asconsur was Gianella Guarino Anfossi. Montella Global S.A. bought several real estate properties and made investments in this sector. Deltodo Enterprises bought industrial properties in Russia and China. Deltodo also intended to sell craft tequila in Mexico, though this project failed. This information was released through the Panama Papers, a massive document leak that detailed information of offshore entities, on 15 April 2015. Both González Valencia and his wife Wendy Dalaithy Amaral Arévalo were mentioned in the Panama Papers as having ties to both entities.
González Valencia and Amaral Arévalo were first mentioned in a document on 17 January 2012, when Verónica Corbo from Asconsur reached out to Mossack Fonseca asking them for a list of companies to purchase and the costs of transactions. The law firm responded the same day with a list of ten potential companies, including Montella Global S.A. On 26 January, Guarino pressured Mossack Fonseca to legalize purchases in Punta del Este because their client was looking to buy assets there and the Uruguayan government would require such approvals. After the process delayed, Asconsur reached out again on 6 February for an update. The purchases were finally approved the following day. González Valencia received a passport that approved his relationship with both entities.
In September 2012, Guarino asked Mossack Fonseca to sign a petition to provide legal assistant to González Valencia if he ever needed it. A month later, she asked the law firm if they could extend the legal protection to Panama so that González Valencia could purchase assets there. Mossack Fonseca stated that González Valencia was able to do that using Montella Global S.A. On 15 June, Guarino reached out to Mossack Fonseca again and asked them for a list of active companies under the law firm. In October, Asconsur communicated with Mossack Fonseca that González Valencia wanted to transfer the shares of his entities to Héctor Amaral Padilla, his father-in-law, of Mexican citizenship.
In December, the couple decided to see if they could purchase assets in Panama using their Uruguayan entities. Mossack Fonseca responded to them on 3 January 2013, with a list of seven Panamanian firms: Seaside Company, Clarisse Company, Amanecer Enterprises, Deltodo Enterprises, Delirio Business, Vani Business, and Tarima Holding. On 10 September, Valeria Martino from Asconsur confirmed that they would proceed to purchase Deltodo Enterprises and put González Valencia and Amaral Arévalo as the owners. On 13 September, Guarino sent Mossack Fonseca a document confirming that she had done her due diligence in the know your customer process. In August 2015, a legal document showed that his father-in-law shared the same address as González Valencia in Punta del Este. In November, Asconsur filed a final request to transfer the assets owned by Montella Global S.A. in Uruguay to Gonzalez Valencia's father-in-law (he was the legal owner of this entity). Mossack Fonseca responded to Asconsur that since Amaral Padilla was the owner of Montella Global S.A., the changes would take place.
Investigation tightens On 19 August 2015, the day the United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned several members of Los Cuinis, including González Valencia's wife, Uruguayan officials started a covert investigation against the couple. They discovered that Amaral Arévalo had a domestic bank account through HSBC and had firms in both Uruguay and Panama. She was the legal owner of a Panamanian company known as Montella Global S.A. She also served as an attorney of another company, Tossa del Mar S.A., and as director for Dalaithy S.A. Several Uruguayan assets were bought on behalf of these entities. The Department of the Treasury also discovered she managed Hotelito Desconocido in Tomatlán, Jalisco; W&G Arquitectos in Tepatitlán, Jalisco; and HD Collection S.A. de C.V. in the State of Mexico. All were considered laundering fronts for Los Cuinis.