Drug ring, cash laundering nightclub owner admits $235K scam

The owner of nightclubs in Pico Rivera and Moreno Valley was handed a two-year split sentence Thursday of prison and home detention for laundering cash linked to a cross-border drug ring.

Edgar Fragoso, owner of the El Rodeo nightclubs, admitted to laundering about $235,000 and agreed to forfeit the state liquor license issued to his Pico Rivera club, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Along with the split sentence, U.S. District Judge George Wu ordered Fragoso to pay a $14,000 fine and serve three years of supervised release following his year-long prison term.

Fragoso, 39, was arrested in February 2015 on suspicion of money laundering after federal drug agents raided his nightclub, his Hacienda Heights home and the Pico Rivera home of his mother.

Federal prosecutors said the Pico Rivera nightspot served as a drop-off point where undercover informants would hand over up to $150,000 in cash at a time for laundering.

The investigation into the Pico Rivera club was triggered by the 2012 arrests of two people who were trafficking methamphetamine in Texas, according to an affidavit filed in the case.

–City News Service