Feds bash down door at lavish Utah mega-mansion, arrest oil magnate accused of working with cartels to import $300 million in illegal Mexican crude

A Utah oil magnate was arrested along with his wife in a dramatic raid on their opulent 27,000-square-foot mansion after allegedly smuggling more than $300 million worth of oil from Mexico to the US with the help of drug cartels, according to reports.James and Kelly Jensen were arrested on April 23 by US Marshals, who used battering rams to bust through the doors of the couple’s $9.2 million mansion in outside Salt Lake City, KSLTV reported.“They were unwilling to come out,” Assistant US Attorney Michael Hess said of the family, which has deep political ties — Kelly’s father, Gordon Walker, worked in the US Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Ronald Reagan, while her mother, Carlene Walker, was a Utah state Senator, according to KVEO.Just days earlier on April 17, the Jensens were indicted on charges they conspired to buy and smuggle more than 2,800 shipments of stolen oil from Mexico into the US as part of an alleged scheme that began three years ago, according to the feds.The Jensens’ company made payments for the crude oil to “businesses in Mexico that operate only through the permission of Mexican criminal organizations,” according to the feds. The feds alleged the family used their ill-gotten gains to buy a new home and cars — and have moved to seize them.Their sons Zachary and Max, were also allegedly in on it and were also indicted, though it is unclear if they were arrested at the mountainside mansion with their parents.The family owns and operates Arroyo Terminals, a Texas company that buys and sells crude oil at a property just miles from the US border in Rio Hondo.Arroyo Terminals was raided by federal agents on the same day that the family was arrested, with employees being handcuffed and questioned about the business’ practices.“We don’t know about that,” one employee told CBS 4 News after the raid.“We’re just in charge of unloading the trucks and loading the barges.”“When it comes to the aspec...