A judge in Baja California Sur handed down the state’s first money laundering conviction tied to the sprawling corruption scandal inside the state Housing Institute, known as INVI. The ruling, announced May 29 in La Paz, came through a plea agreement in which the defendant accepted responsibility.
Juan Antonio “N,” a private citizen identified as the brother of INVI’s former accounting chief, received a sentence of two years and eight months in prison. He was also ordered to repay more than 10.2 million pesos (roughly $510,000 USD). The state’s Fiscalía Anticorrupción (Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office) brought the case.
Shopping Center Built With Public Funds in Under Four Months
Prosecutors said Juan Antonio received misappropriated public funds and used them to purchase property and build a shopping center worth more than 10 million pesos. The entire construction took less than four months. The property has already been seized and transferred back to INVI through a public deed as part of the damage-repair agreement.
The conviction is the first for the crime of “operations with funds of illicit origin” in BCS history, according to the Fiscalía Anticorrupción. The case was resolved through an abbreviated procedure, a Mexican legal mechanism similar to a plea deal.
Broader Investigation Targets Former INVI Directors
The corruption network allegedly operated inside INVI between November 2021 and November 2023. Investigations remain open against several former officials, including Fernanda “N,” the former INVI director; Juan Manuel “N,” the former director of administration and finance; and Javier Armando “N,” the former head of the accounting department, who is currently held at the CERESO prison in La Paz. Another suspect, Hassan “N,” is also in custody. A private citizen named Jonathan “N” remains under investigation.
The INVI scandal has placed pressure on the state government of Governor Víctor Manuel Castro Cosío. A February 2026 investigation by Excélsior reported that prosecutors were also probing a possible additional diversion of 10 million pesos allegedly funneled to the presidential pre-campaign of Adán Augusto López Hernández. That line of inquiry involves former Secretary of Government Homero Davis Castro, now a senator, and was reportedly carried out through INVI during Fernanda Villarreal’s tenure as director.
What Comes Next
The Fiscalía Anticorrupción has said it will continue pursuing cases linked to the network. With two suspects already in prison and arrest warrants potentially pending for others, the INVI case represents one of the most significant anti-corruption prosecutions in BCS in recent years.
This story was first reported by Bitácora BCS on May 29, 2026.