A former Carnegie Mellon University trustee pled not guilty Nov. 8 to charges of laundering more than $600 million on behalf of a Mexican drug cartel. Marco Antonio Delgado, who has most recently served as a Texas attorney, allegedly conspired with the Milenio cartel out of Guadalajara, Mexico to launder cocaine profits from July 2007 until December 2008. According to Homeland Security, Delgado could face up to 20 years incarcerated if convicted.
Although the indictment against Delgado does not describe how he planned to execute his plan, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review discovered two companies tied to his name—the investment partnership Baalbek Group and an energy company—are not registered with the Texas Department of State. In fact, the energy company of which Delgado claimed to be CEO is not registered anywhere except a national database of corporations in 2004—an entry that expired in January 2005.
Carnegie Melon recently removed Delgado’s biography from its Web site. The biography stated he temporarily left his profession to assist Mexican President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto’s campaign in 2012 and now serves on Pena Nieto’s transition team. A spokesman for Pena Nieto’s team, however, told the Associated Press he had never heard of Delgado. Furthermore, Eduardo Sanchez, the spokesman, said Delgado never served Pena Nieto in any capacity.
“Clearly this person is not part of the team. We don’t know him,” Sanchez said. “Criminals normally say things that are not true.”
Delgado’s lawyers told reporters they will seek the married father’s release on bond next week. Delgado’s history does not suggest a man who sought a life of crime. After earning a master’s degree in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz School in 1990 and 2003, Delgado donated $250,000 to the university which established the Marco Delgado Fellowship for the Advancement of Hispanics in Public Policy and Management.
His philanthropy didn’t end there, however. Delgado soon after became a trustee of his alma mater and also donated to the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. His associates are shocked at the news, to say the least.
“I’ve known Marco Delgado for some considerable number of years,” Heinz College professor Robert Strauss told the Pittsberg Tribune-Review, adding that Delgado had never been one of his students, but that he “always was interested in our Hispanic students, and he has been generous.”
Carnegie Mellon spokesman Ken Walters confirmed Delgado served as a university trustee for the past six years and was astounded at the reports of Delgado’s arrest.
“I wish it was someone else,” he said, adding the school has no details pertaining to the truth behind claims of Delgado serving Mexico’s president-elect. “Right now we now no knowledge of the matter and are reserving comment until the authorities investigate.”
