Mexican federal authorities have taken former Chihuahua governor César Duarte back into custody, preparing to charge him with laundering public funds allegedly diverted while he was in office, according to the Associated Press.
In an official statement, prosecutors said a suspect identified only as “César N” had been detained over alleged laundering of illicit funds. A federal agent later confirmed to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity that the suspect is Duarte.
Duarte served as governor of the northern border state of Chihuahua from 2010 to 2016 for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He left for the United States in 2016 with his family, officially to seek medical treatment for injuries from a helicopter crash, the AP reported.
Mexican authorities have previously accused Duarte of embezzling nearly $5 million in state funds during his tenure. He was detained by U.S. authorities and extradited to Mexico in 2022 to face state-level embezzlement charges, according to the report. In June 2024, a Mexican judge granted him house arrest in that embezzlement case, remains ongoing.
Juan Carlos Mendoza Luján, a lawyer for Duarte, told the newspaper El Heraldo de Chihuahua that the former governor had been taken into custody and that the defense team was still gathering information, the news outlet said.
The new federal case follows a procedural step taken late last year. In October 2024, Mexican authorities requested authorization from the United States to prosecute Duarte for money laundering, a charge different from the embezzlement count for which he had originally been extradited.
That authorization was granted last week, the Attorney General’s Office said in the statement cited by the AP.
Read more at the Associated Press