A US jury found the former spokesperson for Mexico's drug war guilty of drug trafficking.
Genaro Garcia Luna, formerly Mexico's security minister, was found guilty of stealing millions of dollars from the Sinaloa drug cartel, the country's largest organized crime organization.
Garcia Luna, who was detained in Texas in 2019, entered a not-guilty plea.
The 54-year-old may spend up to 10 years behind bars.
The jury deliberated for three days before reaching a verdict in the US District Court in Brooklyn, New York, following a four-week trial.
According to the prosecution, the former director of Mexico's equivalent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigations accepted millions of dollars delivered by cartel members in briefcases.
He is currently being tried in the US as the highest-ranking Mexican official ever.
Between 2006 and 2012, Garcia Luna headed the public security department under President Felipe Calderon. Earlier, from 2001 to 2006, he served as the Federal Investigation Agency's director.
