Mexico Recovers $5.8 Million from the Weinberg-García Luna Network; It Will Go to Guerrero Schools

ByAnahí Del Ángel

This article by Anahí Del Ángel originally appeared in the August 28, 2026 edition of Contralínea, an independent Mexican investigative magazine.

The Mexican government recovered $5.8 million of the remaining $578.5 million as part of the sentence handed down by a court in Miami, Florida, in the United States, against the Weinberg family and companies related to the corruption case of Genaro García Luna, Security Secretary during the government of Felipe Calderón. The funds will go toward building and improving schools in the Montaña Baja region of Guerrero, announced President Claudia Sheinbaum.

As part of the execution of the sentence, which took place on August 25 of this year, the Mexican state received $5,805,693.50, coming from the recovery of a bail bond and the liquidation of 12 properties located in Florida, linked to the Weinberg family, reported Omar Reyes Colmenares, head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit.

The funds were received by the Federal Treasury through the efforts carried out by the UIF. However, the official noted that the liquidation of other assets that could be recovered in favor of the Mexican state is still pending.

Altogether, the scheme identified by the financial authority comprises approximately 528 million pesos and $727.9 million in allegedly diverted funds.

Speaking at the presidential press conference, the head of the UIF explained that between 2008 and 2018 a scheme was identified related to the diversion of public funds and operations involving funds of illicit origin —money laundering— stemming from contracts signed between what was then the decentralized administrative body for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation and linked companies for more than $403 million.

The scheme, he said, would have involved the alleged simulation of services, the coordinated participation of public officials and private individuals, as well as the use of shell companies, among them Nunvav, Inc. Based on the analysis of financial flows, the UIF filed a criminal complaint with the Attorney General’s Office in December 2019, and later brought a civil lawsuit in Florida.

In September 2021, the filing of that lawsuit in the United States was completed; the case advanced through coordination among the UIF, the FGR, the Tax Administration Service, and the National Banking and Securities Commission, in addition to international legal assistance with authorities in Panama, Spain, the United States, and El Salvador.

As a result of this process, on May 19, 2026, a sentence was handed down in favor of the Mexican state against the Weinberg family for its participation in the illicit public-contracting scheme related to García Luna, for an approximate amount of $578.5 million.

Reyes Colmenares detailed that the financial analysis made it possible to reconstruct the network used for the diversion, triangulation, and movement of funds between 2015 and 2017.

According to the information presented, García Luna would have funded the conglomerate of companies with more than 305 million pesos and $27.8 million.

In this way, Colmenares noted, the Weinberg family played a significant role within the corporate structure linked to García Luna and, according to the investigation, was connected to a network of shell companies benefited through 30 overpriced government contracts, in exchange for financial compensation or other benefits.

According to the UIF, the use of these mechanisms made it possible to carry out three simultaneous functions: disguising the bribes as ordinary commercial payments, simulating the substance of the contracts, and maximizing the volume of public funds that could be extracted.

Subsequently, the funds were dispersed through Barbados —which operated as a tax haven in this corruption plot— toward other jurisdictions, among them Miami, Florida, through operations between companies and accounts related to García Luna.

The head of the UIF highlighted that one of the main results of the investigation was the tracking of the funds through financial intelligence, which made it possible to identify the money trail, as well as the network of people and companies involved, and to provide elements for the legal actions aimed at recovering the assets.