COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports 48-year old Valeria Ventura Ramirez, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced Tuesday in Council Bluffs District Court, to 24 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to launder money.

In 2016, Ventura Ramirez was the owner and operator of Novedades Ventura, Inc., a money service business located on Leavenworth Street in Omaha. Between July and November of 2016, Ventura Ramirez utilized multiple money transfer companies, including but not limited to, MoneyGram, Western Union, Sigue, InterCambio Express, CES and Intermex, to knowingly wire drug money from the United States to Mexico on behalf of drug traffickers operating in Council Bluffs and Omaha.

The matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations, Drug Enforcement Administration, Council Bluffs Police Department, and the Omaha Police Department. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.