Alvaro Cordoba, the brother of a powerful senator back in Colombia, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, admitting to federal narcotics charges as he tried to help smuggle illegal narcotics to New York. He was captured in a sting operation.
Cordoba entered the guilty plea inside a Manhattan federal court to a single count of conspiring to send 500 grams (17 ounces) or more of cocaine into the US. He is the brother of Pieded Cordoba, who is a powerful leftist senator and allied to Colombia President Gustavo Petro.
According to the Associated Press, he is set to serve a mandatory five years in prison. However, Cordoba could also face more than two decades in prison, according to federal sentencing laws. It was noted that his plea did not contain any promise to cooperate with law enforcement.
“I knew that the cocaine would end up in the United States and I knew what I was doing was wrong,” he told judge Lewis J. Liman after pleading guilty. Cordoba is scheduled to be sentenced in the US sometime in April of this year.
