Longtime DEA informant charged in alleged scheme to extort high-level cocaine traffickers

A drug informant who helped the US Drug Enforcement Administration build some of its biggest cases has been arrested and charged with scheming to extort major cocaine traffickers facing extradition from Colombia and the Dominican Republic.Jorge Hernández, 57, was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday with one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud.He remains in custody after being arrested and making his initial court appearance Wednesday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale.Court papers allege that Hernández operated a scheme starting in 2020 in which he pretended to be a paralegal who, for the right price, could obtain lighter sentences for drug kingpins, according to 17-page FBI affidavit.The FBI alleged that Hernández demanded payments of $1 million from six suspected drug traffickers who ended up surrendering or being extradited to the US.In exchange for the payments — which came in the form of cash, jewelry, properties and vehicles in Colombia — Hernández guaranteed short prison sentences that would be served “in an apartment similar to being on house arrest,” the court papers said.But Hernández never delivered on his promises, nor did he have authority to offer such leniency.As the traffickers who thought they were buying influence grew upset, he would deny responsibility and shift blame to the traffickers’ attorneys, the FBI said.Nestor Menendez, an attorney who represented Hernández at his initial appearance, declined to comment.In two decades as a confidential informant, Hernández had been one of federal law enforcement’s most prolific case-makers, providing the types of tips and information that led to prosecutions of high seas drug smugglers, a former University of Miami money laundering expert and a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.Better known in law enforcement circles by his Spanish nickname Boliche — bowling ball — the beefy, bald-headed Colombian was also the star witness in the 2023 bribery tr...