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The Informant Earned Millions Working for the DEA. He Paid No Taxes
He was ordered to pay $1.2 million in restitution after admitting he failed to report nearly $4 million in DEA payments.
- On Wednesday, a federal judge in Austin, Texas, sentenced longtime Drug Enforcement Administration informant Andres Zapata to time served after he admitted to failing to report nearly $4 million in income earned between 2015-2020.
- Extradited from Colombia last year, Zapata had worked closely with former Drug Enforcement Administration agent José Irizarry, who is serving a 12-year sentence for skimming millions to fund luxury travel and frat-house parties.
- District Judge David Ezra ordered Zapata to pay $1.2 million in restitution for tax losses, while noting internal DEA records show the informant earned more than $4.6 million over two decades arranging covert cash pickups and assisting investigations from Peru to Los Angeles.
- Defense attorney Don Bailey argued at the sentencing hearing that prosecuting informants for tax offenses was unusual, stating that informants "don't get 1099s or W-9s" and often do not understand their reporting obligations when signing for cash.
- Zapata cooperated in a decade-long investigation implicating several Drug Enforcement Administration agents in misconduct, including his role as an alleged go-between for payments from Diego Marin, a "Contraband Czar" arrested in Spain in 2024.
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35 Articles
35 Articles
The Washington Post+5 Reposted by 5 other sources
The informant earned millions working for the DEA. He paid no taxes.
Telemundo 20+16 Reposted by 16 other sources
MIAMI – A long-standing informant who traveled around the party world with rebel agents from the U.S. Drug Control Administration (DEA) avoided a prison sentence this week after admitting that he did not pay taxes on nearly $4 million he received during the years he worked as an undercover agent. Andres Zapata was sentenced to a term of imprisonment on Wednesday in Austin, Texas, after agreeing to cooperate in a decade-long investigation involvi…
Coverage Details
Total News Sources35
Leaning Left9Leaning Right3Center6Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Left
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources lean Left
50% Left
L 50%
C 33%
R 17%
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