Angelica Mendoza Rubio, a 49-year-old certified accountant from Mexico, was sentenced to five years in federal prison for her role in an international money laundering conspiracy. The sentencing took place before U.S. District Judge Williams M. Conley in Madison, Wisconsin. Mendoza Rubio pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit concealment money laundering on May 9, 2025.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin, Mendoza Rubio operated out of Mexico between December 2020 and April 2021. During this period, she used a network of money launderers in the United States to assist criminal clients by converting bulk cash into Bitcoin. The scheme relied on shell companies, nominee account holders, funnel accounts, and multiple financial transactions designed to hide the origin and ownership of the funds.
In December 2020 alone, Mendoza Rubio and her associates laundered about $240,000 that originated from a wire fraud scheme targeting a business in Wisconsin’s Western District. Over five months, Judge Conley determined that she assisted in laundering approximately $5.1 million from criminal activities.
Judge Conley emphasized Mendoza Rubio’s key role due to her accounting expertise and noted the sophistication of the operation when imposing the sentence.
Acting U.S. Attorney Chadwick M. Elgersma commented on law enforcement’s work: “Sophisticated money launderers like Mendoza Rubio help facilitate international criminal activity. I commend the law enforcement agents who worked to bring her to justice.”
The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with support from the Diplomatic Security Service. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meredith P. Duchemin and Louis Glinzak prosecuted the case.
