Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

US

Prosecutors set to open racehorse-related case against cartel leaders

Associated Press
Published | Updated
  • Drug Raid Horse Track Trial
    Image 1 of 2

    FILE - In this Nov. 1, 2012 file photo, A Dash of Sweet Heat is led into the sales ring by an unnamed Heritage Place employee during the fall mixed sale in Oklahoma City. Prosecutors in Texas say Jose Trevino Morales, a brother of two top leaders of Los Zetas, oversaw the purchase of hundreds of quarter horses at a ranch in Oklahoma. He's charged with conspiracy to launder drug money in a case with more than a dozen other defendants. Jury selection in the trial begins Monday, April 15, 2013, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File) (The Associated Press)

  • 14754a6a-Drug Raid Horse Track Trial
    Image 2 of 2

    FILE - In this June 12, 2012 file photo, FBI agents overlook a horse ranch under investigation in Lexington, Okla. Prosecutors in Texas say Jose Trevino Morales, a brother of two top leaders of Los Zetas, oversaw the purchase of hundreds of quarter horses at a ranch in Oklahoma. He's charged with conspiracy to launder drug money in a case with more than a dozen other defendants. Jury selection in the trial begins Monday, April 15, 2013, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Brett Deering, File) (The Associated Press)

AUSTIN, Texas – Prosecutors are set to open their case against a man accused of buying racehorses to hide illegal drug profits for a powerful cartel.

The case centers on Jose Trevino Morales, a brother of two top leaders of the Zetas. The Mexican group has become one of the biggest, most versatile and most violent criminal organizations in the world.

Prosecutors say Morales disguised drug money through the purchase of racehorses at a ranch in Oklahoma. He has been charged with conspiracy in federal court in Texas.

Morales' wife and daughter have pleaded guilty to lesser charges. His brothers remain at large. The horses have been auctioned by the government.

Lawyers for Morales have filed documents suggesting they will offer a contrasting portrait of his equestrian business dealings.