Longtime DEA informant charged in alleged scheme to extort high-level cocaine traffickers
June 18, 2025
A drug informant who helped the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration build some of its biggest cases has been arrested and charged with scheming to extort major cocaine traffickers facing extradition from Colombia and the Dominican Republic. Jorge Hernández, 57, was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday with one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud. He remains in custody after being arrested in south Florida and making his initial court appearance Wednesday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale. Court papers allege that Hernández operated a scheme starting in 2020 in which he pretended to be a paralegal who, for the right price, could obtain lighter sentences for drug kingpins, according to 17-page FBI affidavit.
