Mario de la Fuente Manriquez, Mexican Media Businessman, Wins Court Victory; State Moves to Dismiss Criminal Charges

State prosecutors today moved to drop criminal charges against Mario de la Fuente Manriquez, former CEO of his father's Mexican media empire.The motion to dismiss charges of money laundering, assisting a criminal syndicate, conspiracy and fraud is a major win for Manriquez, who's fought the allegations since his arrest earlier...

By Ray Stern

December 6, 2010

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State prosecutors today moved to drop criminal charges against Mario de la Fuente Manriquez, former CEO of his father's Mexican media empire.

The motion to dismiss charges of money laundering, assisting a criminal syndicate, conspiracy and fraud is a major win for Manriquez, who's fought the allegations since his arrest earlier this year. At the same time, it seems like something of an embarrassment for law enforcement officials who touted the case in a news conference like it was a major organized-crime bust.

This summer, the state dropped their case against Manriquez's son, Mario de la Fuente Mix.

Charges remain against several other defendants in the case, which involved the purchase and operation of local nightclubs and exotic car dealership's with millions of Manriquez's dollars. Police said the money was apparently made legitimately in Mexico through Manriquez's former businesses, which include OmniCable (later bought by Megacable) and the El Diario newspaper in Nogales.

We're not yet sure what will happen to the seized millions, but we imagine Manriquez will get his money back. We'll update the blog with more info on this case tomorrow.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.