Alleged Sinaloa Cartel member Miguel Angel Valdez Ruiz, also known as Flaco, appeared in federal court in San Diego today after being arrested on charges related to an international conspiracy to traffic cocaine into the United States. The indictment alleges that Valdez was involved in transporting cocaine from Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, and Mexico.
Valdez had been a fugitive since his 2019 indictment in the Southern District of California for International Conspiracy to Distribute Controlled Substances. On February 10, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Valdez under Executive Order 14059 for contributing to major Mexican cartels’ efforts to traffic cocaine into the country.
According to OFAC’s findings, Valdez acted as an intermediary between Ecuadorian drug trafficker Wilder Emilio Sanchez Farfan and Ismael Zambada Garcia (El Mayo), who was then a leading figure of the Sinaloa Cartel. OFAC alleges that Valdez used private aircraft to move cocaine from Ecuador to Mexico and coordinated with others to import it into the United States.
At his hearing today, Valdez pleaded not guilty. A detention hearing is scheduled for February 20, 2026 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Berg.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kyle Martin, Jordan Arakawa, Ashley Goff and Mary Walters are prosecuting the case.
The investigation involves multiple agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Department of the Treasury, and United States Coast Guard.
The maximum penalty for International Conspiracy to Distribute Controlled Substances is life imprisonment and a $10 million fine.
Authorities remind that all charges are accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
This prosecution falls under Operation Take Back America—a national effort aimed at combating illegal immigration and eliminating transnational criminal organizations such as drug cartels by coordinating resources from various Justice Department initiatives like Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN). The California Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) led this investigation as part of Operation Take Back America joint operations between the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security created by presidential executive order.
