A few weeks ago, Eric Hovde became very defensive when it was learned that at least one foreign government had money in his California-based bank.
I can’t even imagine how he’s feeling now that news is breaking that his bank was involved in a $26.2 million deal with a Mexican bank that has ties to drug cartels and money laundering, compliance issues and even bribery of a Texas congressman, per a report by Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
According to a May story in the Wall Street Journal, Banco Azteca has struggled doing business with U.S. banks since regulators began enforcing rules cracking down on money laundering from drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion. Many U.S. banks have cut ties with Banco Azteca because of “risk and compliance concerns.”
For years, that left Banco Azteca holding onto large sums of U.S. currency with no place to offload it.
The bank’s problems came to a head earlier this year when a Texas congressman, Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, and his wife were charged with taking $236,390 in bribes from Banco Azteca, which was accused of trying to influence anti-money laundering legislation in the U.S. Ricardo Salinas Pliego, one of Mexico’s wealthiest residents, is the head of Grupo Salinas, which owns Banco Azteca.
Now, it could be that Hovde is on the up and up in this situation and did nothing wrong, but even if one gives him the benefit of the doubt, it sure is a bad look for him. A look even worse than that cheesy pornstache.
To make it even worse for Hovde is the fact that he has spent so much time and money on trying to attack Senator Tammy Baldwin by blaming her for the fentanyl crisis, and here he is up to his armpits with a bank accused of laundering money for the Mexican drug cartels. Then again, Hovde is also the same guy who somehow thinks that he lives in Wisconsin. Here’s a pro-tip for you Eric: You can’t see the Pacific Ocean from Wisconsin.
