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Federal
agents
say the
Jensen
family
didn’t
come out
when
they
came
knocking
— so the
mansion’s
door was
battered
down.
where
they
James
Jensen.
The son,
Maxwell
was
arrested
in
Texas. |
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Hobbs,
New
Mexico,
Oil
wells
pumping
in the
Permian
Basin.
The
Permian
Basin is
a major
oil and
gas
producing
area in
west
Texas
and
southeastern
New
Mexico.
(Photo
by: Jim
West/UCG/Universal
Images
Group
via
Getty
Images) |
| |
Utah Man
Faces
20-Year
Sentence
in
Cross-Border
Oil
Fraud
Investigation
Derick
Adams -
Crime/Law
Tell Us
USA News
Network
McALLEN,
TX - A
federal
judge
has set
a
$750,000
bond for
Maxwell
Sterling
Jensen,
a Utah
businessman
accused
of
purchasing
stolen
crude
oil
smuggled
from
Mexico.
Jensen,
along
with his
father,
mother,
and
brother,
faces
charges
of money
laundering,
smuggling,
and
fraudulently
importing
crude
oil into
the U.S.
Prosecutors
allege
that the
Jensen
family
conspired
to
mislabel
crude
oil
stolen
from
Mexico’s
state-run
oil
company,
PEMEX,
allowing
it to
enter
the U.S.
illegally.
By
disguising
the oil
as
"waste
of lube
oils" or
"petroleum
distillates,"
they
avoided
stricter
regulations
and paid
lower
taxes
and
tariffs.
The
stolen
crude
was then
sold at
discounted
rates,
generating
illicit
profits
for
Mexican
drug
cartels.
The U.S.
Treasury
Department
has
identified
fuel
theft,
known as
"huachicol,"
as one
of the
most
significant
non-drug
revenue
streams
for
Mexican
criminal
organizations.
In
Tamaulipas,
the Gulf
Cartel
and
Jalisco
New
Generation
Cartel
allegedly
collaborate
to steal
crude
oil from
PEMEX,
shipping
it
across
the
border
to
willing
buyers
in the
U.S.
Concerns
over
Maxwell’s
financial
resources
abroad
and ties
to
Mexico
led a
judge to
initially
deny
bond.
However,
after
negotiations,
a
revised
deal was
approved,
requiring
a
$75,000
cash
deposit
and home
detention
with GPS
monitoring.
His
grandfather,
Gordon
D.
Walker,
a former
Reagan
administration
official,
stepped
in as
co-surety
on the
bond.
If
convicted
on the
most
serious
charge,
Maxwell
Jensen
faces up
to 20
years in
federal
prison.
His
pretrial
hearing
is
scheduled
for
June.
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