Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York | Department of Justice
Maximiliano Davila Perez, the former director of Bolivia’s national anti-narcotics agency, was sentenced on Mar. 19 to 25 years in prison for conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and a related firearms offense. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote following Davila Perez’s conviction in October after a one-week jury trial in Manhattan federal court.
Davila Perez, who led Bolivia’s Fuerza Especial de Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico (FELCN), was extradited from Bolivia in December 2024. Prosecutors said he abused his position by supporting drug traffickers and facilitating large-scale shipments of cocaine destined for New York.
“Maximiliano Davila Perez wielded extraordinary power as Bolivia’s top counternarcotics officer and chose to abuse that power to support the very drug traffickers he was sworn to investigate, all to send massive quantities of cocaine to New York,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Now, because of Davila Perez’s corruption and brazen attempt to flood our streets with cocaine, he will spend 25 years in federal prison. Our Office, alongside our partners at the DEA’s Special Operations Division, will continue to root out high-level narco-corruption around the globe that threatens our country and New Yorkers.”
DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said: “Betrayal of public trust by a law enforcement official is a complete abandonment of the oath they swore to uphold. Maximiliano Dávila Pérez turned his office into a criminal enterprise—protecting traffickers, ensuring the movement of cocaine, and directly enabling the flow of drugs into the United States. His actions fueled violence, corruption, and addiction. Today’s sentence makes clear that no badge, no title, and no position will shield those who choose crime over duty. DEA will identify, expose, and bring to justice anyone who abuses power to traffic drugs into our communities, wherever they operate.”
According to evidence presented at trial and statements made in court proceedings, between February 2019 and November 2019 while serving as FELCN director—and afterward—Davila Perez used his authority and connections to facilitate international cocaine trafficking operations. He diverted law enforcement resources away from favored traffickers and provided armed FELCN personnel as security for shipments leaving Bolivian airports.
Davila Perez conspired with others to manufacture, ship, and protect more than one metric ton of cocaine intended for delivery through the Dominican Republic en route to New York. Meetings with co-conspirators were recorded by DEA confidential sources; during these meetings Davila Perez authorized sample deliveries and discussed methods for securing airport operations so that planes could be loaded with drugs without interference from law enforcement.
In addition to his prison term, Davila Perez was sentenced to five years of supervised release. U.S. Attorney Clayton praised efforts by the DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit and the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs.
