Federal authorities in Mexico have intensified a sprawling organized crime investigation involving Maquiladora de Lubricantes, a corporate client tied to high-profile financial transactions. The ongoing inquiry by the Fiscalía General de la República (FGR) targets an alleged hydrocarbons-related money laundering scheme that shifted billions of pesos through shell companies and designated blacklisted entities.
The Petrofacturero Arrest and the Core Corporate Conduit
The federal case centers on Maquiladora de Lubricantes, a corporate entity where Coahuila businessman Jesús Ricardo Puente Díaz serves as an accionista and apoderado. Authorities apprehended Puente on May 28 in Nuevo León, subsequently securing a formal binding to trial, or auto de vinculación a proceso, on charges of operations with resources of illicit origin, commonly known as money laundering. At the time of the arrest, the FGR publicly labeled Puente a petrofacturero.
Investigators detail the corporate footprint under case file FED/SEIDO/UEIARV-TAMP/0000308/2021, linked to penal cause 123/2026 at the Centro de Justicia Penal Federal in the Estado de México, headquartered in Almoloya de Juárez (Altiplano). A second arrest warrant issued against Puente on August 31 explicitly states that Maquiladora de Lubricantes forms part of an orchestrated scheme investigated for organized crime and asset laundering.
Multimillion-Peso Inflow and the Blacklisted Supplier Network
Financial documentation reviewed by investigators reveals staggering monetary flows moving through Maquiladora de Lubricantes between 2021 and 2026. During this period, the company recorded total income of 7 mil 095.1 millones de pesos against expenditures totaling 9 mil 164.5 millones de pesos.
The ledger entries demonstrate substantial transactions directed toward companies classified by the Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT) as Facturadoras de Operaciones Simuladas (EFOS), or simulated operation billers. In 2021 alone, Maquiladora de Lubricantes transferred mil 146.8 millones de pesos to Maquinaria Pesada para la Construcción I.P.R., an entity placed on the black list in 2023. Another substantial outflow occurred that same year with Distribuidora Industrial Fronteriza—designated as an EFOS in 2024—which received 942.7 millones de pesos from Puente’s firm.
Political Intersection and Legal Crosscurrents
Beyond its industrial transactions, reporting from Grupo REFORMA highlights that Maquiladora de Lubricantes disbursed 15 millones de pesos to GMA Firma Jurídica Fiscal, a legal firm owned by the Mandatario emecista and his father, Samuel Orlando García Mascorro.
The expanding judicial dragnet extends far beyond Puente. In the same judicial proceeding that resulted in Puente’s May arrest, a control judge issued warrants for Carlos Alberto Velázquez Nieto, Jesús Manuel Treviño Garza, known as “El Bebo,” Karina Melissa Guerrero Rodríguez, and Leonel Guadalupe Jiménez Pérez. All four individuals currently remain fugitives from justice, pursued under charges of organized crime and money laundering linked to hydrocarbon theft and illicit asset diversion.
The Extended Network of Energy and Financial Intermediaries
Federal prosecutors are scrutinizing the operational mechanics of several auxiliary corporate entities named in the expediente, including Distribuidora Industrial Fronteriza, Energética Carvel, Fase Chihuahua, and HB Segind. Investigators identify Velázquez as an accionista, sole administrator, and legal representative of Energética Carvel, holding authorized signatory status over the company’s designated bank accounts. Meanwhile, the legal file positions Fase Chihuahua as a direct client of Energética Carvel, thereby drawing its financial movements into the broader laundering framework. Guerrero is similarly categorized by prosecutors as a commercial and financial operator managing assets derived from illegal hydrocarbon trafficking.
Despite facing mandatory preventive detention for offenses carrying a prison preventiva oficiosa, Carlos Alberto Velázquez secured a federal amparo suspension preventing immediate execution of his arrest warrant. This judicial protection prompted a formal court summons directing Velázquez to appear voluntarily at an initial hearing in Almoloya for the FGR to formally communicate charges and pursue his formal binding to trial. Judicial authorities have not yet confirmed whether Velázquez complied with the appearance directive.
