United States v. Francisco Colorado Cessa

GREGG COSTA, Circuit Judge:

After a jury convicted him of laundering money for the Los Zetas cartel, Francisco Antonio Colorado Cessa was facing sentencing before a federal judge in Austin. Before that hearing, the FBI received a tip about a plan to bribe the judge in exchange for a reduced sentence. A sting operation followed that resulted in bribery charges being filed in Austin federal court against Colorado, his son, and a business partner.

The defendants successfully obtained a transfer of the bribery case to federal court in Louisiana as a result of, among other things, publicity in…