Chicago man convicted for laundering drug cash tied to Mexican traffickers.
A federal jury in Chicago convicted a local man in December 2025 for helping move and hide large amounts of illegal drug money tied to a Mexico-based drug trafficking group. The case followed a week-long trial in U.S. District Court and focused on how drug profits were moved across borders and disguised to avoid detection by federal authorities.
The man, David Berger, is 41 years old and lives in Chicago. Jurors found him guilty on all three charges brought against him. These included two counts related to money laundering and one count tied to breaking federal banking rules by dividing deposits into smaller amounts to avoid reporting requirements. Each of the charges carries serious penalties, and Berger now faces the possibility of spending decades in federal prison.
Court records showed that the drug trafficking group operated between 2018 and 2021. During that time, the organization moved large quantities of cocaine from Mexico into the United States. The drugs were sold in several major cities, including Chicago. After the drugs were sold, the organization collected millions of dollars in cash. That money then had to be moved back to Mexico without attracting law enforcement attention.
Investigators explained that the group used several methods to move its cash profits. One method involved private chartered airplanes. These flights were used to carry large sums of money from the United States toward the southern border and into Mexico. The planes were not booked directly by the drug group. Instead, intermediaries handled the arrangements to distance the leaders from the transactions.
Berger was identified as one of those intermediaries. Evidence presented at trial showed that he helped arrange and pay for private jet flights on behalf of the organization. Prosecutors said Berger received more than $300,000 in cash that came from drug sales. That money was used to pay for the flights and to cover his own fee for helping with the arrangements.
Rather than depositing the cash in a single transaction, Berger was shown to have made many smaller deposits using automated teller machines. These deposits were structured in a way meant to avoid triggering federal rules that require banks to report large cash transactions. Prosecutors argued that this pattern showed an effort to hide the source and movement of the money.
Federal law requires banks to report cash deposits over a certain amount to help detect illegal activity. Breaking up deposits to avoid those reports is a crime on its own. Jurors agreed that Berger knowingly followed this pattern to keep the transactions from being flagged.
The investigation involved several federal agencies working together. Law enforcement officials tracked financial records, flight bookings, and cash movements over several years. Their work helped build a detailed picture of how the drug group operated and how money moved through the system.
The conviction was announced by officials from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois along with leaders from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal division. Additional help came from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
U.S. District Judge Jorge L. Alonso scheduled Berger’s sentencing for May 12, 2026. At that hearing, the court will decide how much prison time he will receive based on federal sentencing rules and the details of the case. Until then, the conviction stands as an example of how financial crimes tied to drug trafficking can lead to severe consequences, even for those who never handle drugs directly.
Sources:
Chicago Man Convicted of Laundering Money for Mexico-Based Drug Trafficking Organization
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