Manuel Bribiesca is the son of the former mexican first lady, Marta Sahagún and it is a well known secret that during the presidency of Vicente Fox in Mexico, Bribiesca increased his finances through the use of his influences. As a result of an investigation in 2008 on the south district of California, the FBI has issue an arrest warrant against him.

Right before the FOX presidency came to an end, these accusations were brought up against Marta's children, and in the Chamber of Deputies three special commissions were created to investigate them. The result was a criminal complaint against Manuel for the crimes of influence peddling and stealing the nation with at least 134 million pesos. Manuel never went to jail, and enjoyed his freedom by traveling around the world, and delighting himself with the properties he acquired while he lived in Texas for a long time.

Process magazine and Sin Embargo digital newspaper, are referring the file 08CR4274-JAH of the Court of the South District of California, which points out the charges to Manuel Bribiesca Sahagún : electronic fraud, conspiracy, complicity, and cover-up. On December 9, 2008, an arrest warrant was issued against Bribiesca for the frauds he committed in complicity with Sergio Federico Ruiz Ríos, who once worked at PEMEX.

During the presidency of Fox, Bribiesca Sahagún worked as mediator to obtain PEMEX contracts for some companies named Oceanografía y Arrendadora Ocean.

In the United States, his fraud is also being linked to the energy industry. Before Sergio Federico Ruiz was terminated while in PEMEX, he was hired by Grupo D'Amiano to preside Star Gas and North Star Gas in Tijuana and Chula Vista respectively, North Star Gas would search for butane gas providers to serve Star Gas, but after several financial losses, the group initiated an investigation against Ruiz, who by that time, and through several frauds, had awarded himself company shares.

In exchange for Ruiz to leave company, the D'Amiano group would have to pay him 120 thousand dollars and he would give them the butane gas provider connections. Said provider was "Mexico Gas", property of Manuel Bribiesca.

Sinembargo.mx web site explains:

Before the D'Amiano group would find out about Ruiz's mismanagement, on September of 2006, Ruiz contacted an American company named Centennial Energy LLC, on which he presented himself as president and executive chief of North Star Gas from the D'Amiano group, for which he was working for. Ruiz Ríos told Centennial that North Star Gas was about to go out of business and that it was going to be absorbed by Mexico Gas. Centennial started selling butane to Mexico Gas which at the same time was re-selling it to Grupo D'Amiano, making D'Amiano believe that Mexico Gas was the direct provider and not a reseller .The butane gas resale with surcharge occurred from November of 2006 to October of 2007. During this period, Ruiz Ríos earned 655 thousand dollars. According to the American government investigation, Centennial also lost "hundreds of thousands of dollars" due to the "conspiracy and the swindle". The D'Amiano group discovered the truth and made the corresponding complaint. The case stopped being a private matter and it was taken by the United States government which entrusted the fraud investigation to special agent Marc Pennebaker of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

As part of the fraud, Ivonne Vazquez Mellado, Bribiesca's second wife, is also being involved since her bank accounts show deposits that were made by Mexico Gas, while she was living in Texas.

Currently, Manuel Bribiesca and his family are living in León Guanajuato, Mexico, often showing the lap of luxury they live in.

Manuel's brother, Fernando Bribiesca, who is a political member of Partido Nueva Alianza (New Alliance Party), runs in second place on the list of candidates for the plurinominal deputy seat. Winning the office would give his family new business opportunities, but among all: protection.

In March, the investigation against Manuel Bribiesca took a new turn when Laura Duffy, federal district attorney of the South District of California, added district attorney's assistant Stephen Clark, to the criminal case. Clark is recognized in his guild as a persecutor of the political corruption, and Duffy is well known for prosecuting and sentencing Benjamin Arellano Felix.

editorial@sandiegored.com

Translation : Daniel Blanco