Former Mexico City Resident Who Oversaw International Drug Money Laundering Conspiracy Sentenced to More Than 7 Years in Prison

LOS ANGELES - The lead defendant in a criminal case who oversaw a money laundering conspiracy that moved millions of dollars in narcotics-related funds from the United States to international drug trafficking organizations was sentenced today to 87 months in federal prison.

Daniel Shaun Zilke, 49, a.k.a. "The Englishman," most recently a resident of Mexico City, was sentenced by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner, who also ordered him to pay $150,000 in restitution to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and fined him $50,000.

Zilke pleaded guilty in December 2023 to conspiracy to aid and abet drug distribution, conspiracy to launder money, and obstruction of an official government proceeding for stealing and attempting to cover up the theft of $150,000 in DEA undercover funds. Zilke has been in federal custody since May 2023.

Federal prosecutors have secured two other convictions in this case. Gustavo Adolfo Aldana-Martinez, 58, of Pico Rivera, is serving a four-year prison sentence and was fined $25,000 after a jury in December 2023 found him guilty of money laundering conspiracy to conceal drug proceeds. Jeffrey Mark Thompson, 63, of Dallas, Texas, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to conspiracy to aid and abet drug distribution, money laundering conspiracy, and concealment money laundering of drug trafficking proceeds and is awaiting sentencing when he will face up to life imprisonment.

Beginning in 2015 and continuing until approximately February 2020, Zilke laundered money on behalf of drug trafficking organizations. According to court documents, the investigation into Zilke's operation started in late 2015 when an undercover DEA agent posing as a money launderer contacted Zilke. When he pleaded guilty, Zilke admitted telling the undercover "he had a client in Europe who needed hundreds of millions of dollars moved to Mexico, and that he could use the bank account of a charity in Dallas, Texas to assist in laundering the money."

The undercover agent agreed to assist Zilke by allowing him to use bank accounts associated with cash-intensive businesses. Subsequently, Zilke and his associates arranged numerous pickups of large sums of cash from drug traffickers in cities all over the country, funds that were deposited at Zilke's direction into various bank accounts, including one controlled by Aldana-Martinez and another in the name of a purported charity, Peace Through Water Foundation.

Zilke and other co-conspirators each earned a commission that was a percentage of the amount laundered through their respective accounts, according to court documents.

During the investigation, Zilke approached the DEA in 2019 and offered his cooperation to expose the money laundering organization. After being made a cooperator and agreeing to always be truthful, Zilke received $200,000 in official government funds to be delivered to defendant Thompson. The intent was for Thompson to launder the money through his bank accounts and return the money to DEA undercover accounts. However, approximately two weeks after the cash delivery, Zilke returned to Thompson's residence and took back $150,000 without telling the DEA agents. After this theft of government funds, he repeatedly lied to the agents about the money and made excuses for why it was taking so long to receive the wire transfers for the full $200,000.

DEA Seattle and DEA San Ysidro investigated this matter.

Assistant United States Attorney Julie J. Shemitz of the International Narcotics, Money Laundering, and Racketeering Section is prosecuting this case.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.