Former Tamaulipas governor convicted on money laundering released from US prison

Mexican army soldiers prepare a search mission for four U.S. citizens kidnapped by gunmen in Matamoros, Mexico, Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo)

McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — The former governor of the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas who was convicted of money laundering has been released from a U.S. prison.

Tómas Yarrington Ruvalcaba, 67, was released from federal prison on July 3, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

A photo posted on X shows Yarrington exiting a helicopter under heavy armed guard.

He had been held at a penitentiary in Illinois, Mexican media reported on X.

The (McAllen) Monitor newspaper reports that he must now serve three years of supervised release.

Yarrington was sentenced on March 15, 2023, to serve nine years in prison. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to launder over $3.5 million in bribes and used the money to fraudulently purchase property in the United States.

Federal prosecutors claim he laundered more than $9 million over 14 years and took millions of dollars in bribes from the Gulf Cartel from 1998 to 2013.

He was arrested in Italy in 2017, where he had fled and was extradited to the United States in April 2018.

He made a first appearance in federal court in Brownsville, Texas, under heavy police protection that caused closure of area roads and helicopter surveillance. His trial was held in Houston.

From 1993 to 1995, Yarrington was mayor of the Mexican border town of Matamoros, which is south of the border from Brownsville. From 1999 to 2005 he was governor of Tamaulipas.

He was an Institutional Revolutionary Party candidate for president of Mexico in 2005.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at [email protected].