A former governor of the state of Tamaulipas in northeastern Mexico has been sentenced to nine years in prison by a US court on corruption charges, the US Department of Justice said.
Tomas Yarrington Ruvalcaba, who ruled the violent border state of Texas from 1999 to 2005, has admitted taking $3.5 million in bribes to buy buildings, private jets and luxury cars across the United States.
The 66-year-old former governor and candidate for Mexico’s presidency in 2005 was arrested in April 2017 in Italy, where he was traveling with forged papers, and extradited to the United States the following year. He was convicted by a Texas federal judge and will be deported at the end of his sentence, the Justice Department said.
“Even if you are the governor of a Mexican state, we will not stand by if you use your position to improperly line your pockets and violate United States law,” US Attorney Alamdar Hamdani said.