TAMPA, Fla. — A when-standout U.S. narcotics agent who made use of his badge to construct a lavish way of life of expensive autos, events on yachts and Tiffany jewels was sentenced to extra than 12 many years in federal prison Thursday for conspiring to launder income with a Colombian cartel.

But even as José Irizarry admitted to his crimes, he blamed previous colleagues at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for fostering a tradition of corruption that desensitized him to the implications of violating the regulation.

“When my customer joined the DEA he was schooled in how to be corrupt, he was schooled in how to crack the regulation,” his legal professional, María Dominguez, stated in courtroom. “In this alternate universe it became less complicated and fewer suspect to take income and gifts” from felony informants who worked with the U.S. leading narcotics agency.

U.S. District Court docket Choose Charlene Honeywell in handing down her sentence expressed disgust with the DEA for its failings and reported other agents corrupted by “the allure of easy money” also necessary to be investigated.

“This has to cease,” the decide said. “You had been the a single who obtained caught but it is clear to this court that there are some others.”

The DEA declined to remark on Irizarry’s promises.

“Former Particular Agent Irizarry abused the belief of the American persons when he repeatedly violated his oath as a federal law enforcement officer,” Anne Milgram, the agency’s new administrator, reported in a assertion. “Bringing him to justice reflects the principles of those who faithfully serve and uphold the values of DEA.”

Irizarry’s allegations underscore the porous oversight he acquired during his job, in which he was entrusted with the government’s use of front corporations, shell lender accounts and couriers to battle intercontinental drug trafficking.

They also raise new inquiries about whether or not his colleagues in the Miami discipline office environment, the place Irizarry’s felony exercise commenced, likewise abused the badge in their dealing with of confidential informants who each year shift tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars in filthy revenue less than the DEA’s supervision.

Dominguez in court filings exposed that because Irizarry’s arrest last calendar year…