Rivera was one of eight defendants indicted in April for the scheme that authorities said was centered around city of Industry wholesaler Woody Toys. Through a set-up known as the Black Market Peso Exchange, Woody Toys allegedly converted more than $1 million to pesos each year, officials said at the time.
Rivera, a customer of Woody Toys, admitted Wednesday to conspiring with others to launder between $70,000 and $120,000 between 2008 and 2011. Authorities allege Woody Toys funneled close to $6 million since 2005 as part of the scheme.
Rivera referred to the black market U.S. dollars he was purchasing to pay for his toys as “narco dollars” to a witness and to the owner of Woody Toys, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Christine Bautista.
Although he did not directly take part in or witness drug deals, Rivera “conducted financial transactions with cash that he knew, or should have known, to be drug proceeds” and “deliberately avoided learning the truth” about where the money was from, according to his plea agreement.
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