A Chicago-based money launderer involved in a drug trafficking organization has been sentenced to over eight years in federal prison. Cosme Chacon, 55, pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy charge in 2023. U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp, Jr. delivered the 100-month sentence during a hearing on Tuesday in Chicago's federal court.
Chacon was one of four defendants indicted in 2007 for their roles in a drug trafficking operation that moved heroin from New York, Florida, and Texas to Chicago. After the drugs were sold, Chacon laundered the proceeds through wire transfers to Colombia and other international locations. His co-defendants received federal prison sentences of 16 years, 12 years, and one year after pleading guilty.
In 2009, while free on bond, Chacon failed to appear for status hearings leading up to his trial and remained a fugitive until his arrest in Panama in 2022. He was subsequently returned to the United States.
The sentencing announcement came from Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Sean Fitzgerald, Special Agent-in-Charge of Homeland Security Investigations' Chicago office; and Ramsey E. Covington, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation's Chicago Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian F. Williamson represented the government.
The arrest and return of Chacon were facilitated by cooperation from IRS Criminal Investigation Panama City, the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces investigation aimed at identifying and dismantling criminal networks through collaboration among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.