United States v. Trejo

Noe Trejo appeals his conviction for conspiracy to commit "promotion" money laundering under the transportation prong of the federal money laundering statute, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1956(h) and 1956(a)(2)(A). Trejo pled guilty to the charge but now maintains that the factual basis for his plea is insufficient to establish that he had the "specific intent to promote" the underlying drug trafficking activity as required under the statute. Upon a review of the record, we agree that the facts supporting Trejos guilty plea fall short of establishing § 1956(a)(2)(A)s "specific intent to promote" element and that the district court, therefore, erred in accepting his guilty plea. Finding no plain error, we AFFIRM.