Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. arrested by ICE for alleged ties to Sinaloa Cartel: DHS
Photo by Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images
(STUDIO CITY, Calif.) — Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., son of the legendary fighter, has been arrested and is being processed for “expedited removal” from the United States due to alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, the Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday.
Chavez was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday in Studio City, California, DHS said. He is allegedly in the country illegally after overstaying a tourist visa, according to DHS.
Chavez lost to boxer and influencer Jake Paul in a fight on Saturday night in Anaheim, California.
He has an active arrest warrant in Mexico “for his involvement in organized crime and trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives,” DHS said in a press release.
“Chavez is also believed to be an affiliate of the Sinaloa Cartel, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,” DHS said.
The boxer entered the country in August 2023 with a B2 tourist visa that was valid until February 2024, according to DHS. He filed an application for lawful permanent resident status in April 2024, according to DHS.
“Chavez’s application was based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, who is connected to the Sinaloa Cartel through a prior relationship with the now-deceased son of the infamous cartel leader Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman,” DHS said.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services flagged Chavez as an “egregious public safety threat” to ICE in December 2024, though his removal was not prioritized, according to DHS.
He was determined to be in the country and removable on June 27 after allegedly making “multiple fraudulent statements” on his lawful permanent resident application, DHS said.
“Under President Trump, no one is above the law — including world-famous athletes,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Our message to any cartel affiliates in the U.S. is clear: We will find you and you will face consequences. The days of unchecked cartel violence are over.”
According to DHS, Chavez has prior convictions in California for driving under the influence of alcohol in 2012 and illegal possession of an assault weapon and manufacture or import of a short-barreled rifle in 2024.
Chavez’s father, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., is one of the greatest boxers of all-time and a huge celebrity in their native Mexico.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(COLCHESTER, Vt.) — A federal judge in Vermont set a hearing for next Wednesday to decide whether to release Mohsen Mahdawi, the Columbia student who was arrested last week, while his case proceeds.
Mahdawi, who was arrested last Monday during his citizenship interview, was present during the hearing.
U.S. District Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford kicked off Wednesday’s hearing by asking Mahdawi if he was being treated well in the deletion facility in Vermont.
“I’m grateful for the kindness of the state, your honor,” Mahdawi said.
Before briefly discussing the motion from Mahdawi’s attorneys to release him, Judge Crawford extended the temporary restraining order that was issued by a separate judge last week to keep Mahdawi in Vermont.
“I don’t want Mr. Mahdawi to be whisked away to another state,” Judge Crawford said.
Mahdawi, who co-founded a university organization called Palestinian Student Union with detained Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, is a permanent resident of the U.S. and was taking his last step in the process for him to become a U.S. citizen before his arrest, his attorneys said.
In a court filing on Monday, Mahdawi’s attorneys said that he is not a flight risk or a danger to the community.
Mahdawi’s attorneys said his release is necessary to avoid “what is a devastating punitive consequence of Mahdawi’s continued detention, namely, the disruption of his education.”
During the hearing Wednesday, attorneys for Mahdawi argued that the federal judge in Vermont should preserve the court’s jurisdiction in the case and said that an immigration court “does not have the authority to address the egregious violation of his First Amendment.”
The judge seemed to agree with Mahdawi’s attorneys and pointed out that Mahdawi is a Vermont resident and that he was arrested in the state.
“If he’s moved to another state, it creates a second tier of issues,” Judge Crawford said. “He’s a Vermont resident, he was arrested in Vermont.”
The judge said that he will give the government until Monday to reply to Mahdawi’s attorneys’ motion for release.
During the hearing, Michael Drescher, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Vermont, said he was not authorized to “justify” the extension of the TRO to keep Mahdawi in Vermont. Drescher also requested an opportunity to respond to Mahdawi’s attorney’s motion from Tuesday requesting his release.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment.
(CHELAN COUNTY, Wash.) — It’s been nearly a month since Travis Decker went on the run after allegedly killing his three young daughters near a Washington state campground, and at least one expert told ABC News he believes the fugitive father is likely still alive and will “eventually surface.”
Paityn Decker, 9; Evenlyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5, were killed after they left home for a “planned visitation” with Decker at approximately 5 p.m. on May 30, officials said. At approximately 3 p.m. on June 2, officials located the bodies of the three girls, and Decker’s vehicle, near the Rock Island Campground in Chelan County, Washington.
Nearly one month later, the manhunt for Decker, an Army veteran, continues.
On Monday, officials said that “there is no certain evidence that Decker remains alive” or in the surrounding area after “seemingly strong early leads gave way to less convincing proofs over the last two weeks of searching.”
“We can’t and won’t quit this search,” Kittitas County Sheriff Clay Myers said in a statement. “Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia Decker deserve justice. Decker remains a danger to the public as long as he’s at large.”
But Todd McGhee, a law enforcement and security analyst and former Massachusetts state trooper, told ABC News he believes Decker is alive, especially since canines have “not picked up on any type of cadaver or any type of presence of a deceased body.”
“Canines are trained to look for cadavers and sniff for those types of odors, so he’s still maybe on the move,” McGhee told ABC News.
McGhee said he believes Decker may have “slipped out of the U.S.,” escalating the search into an “international manhunt.” An affidavit previously revealed that Decker’s Google searches leading up to the murders included “how does a person move to Canada” and “how to relocate to Canada.”
Decker has likely been able to evade from law enforcement for so long due to his military training, which allows him to “navigate with limited resources in the wilderness,” McGhee said. Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison previously said Decker’s father revealed that his son had been known to go out and live “off the grid” for up to 2 and a 1/2 months.
Since he has managed to hide from officials for an extensive period of time, McGhee said Decker could have developed an escape plan, allowing him at least time to “process everything as far as turning himself in [and] standing trial.”
McGhee said Decker will likely “leverage every bit” of his military experience but said he believes he will “eventually surface.”
“He’ll eventually have to surface through seeking shelter, seeking food, nutrition — those types of things will require him to come out of hiding and, to some degree, expose himself to the general public,” McGhee said.
Regardless of where Decker may be, McGhee said he is “confident” the search efforts will lead to some form of closure.
“I’m confident that something should reveal itself as far as a resolution as to where his existence is and hopefully a capture and an arrest,” McGhee told ABC News.
What we know about the deaths of Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia Decker
On May 30, Decker picked up the girls, talked to his ex-wife, Whitney Decker, for about 15-20 minutes and then left, according to Arianna Cozart, Whitney Decker’s attorney. While Whitney Decker had full custody of the children, Travis Decker was granted visitations to see the children for three hours on Fridays and eight hours every other weekend, so long as he remained in Wenatchee Valley with the girls, Cozart told ABC News.
“He said, ‘Hey, I will see you at 8 [p.m.]’ and he left, and he never came back,” Cozart said.
Whitney Decker contacted police that evening with a civil complaint, saying she had not heard from Travis Decker and he had failed to bring the girls home at their scheduled time, officials said.
Detectives later learned Travis Decker and his daughters did not arrive at a “planned 5K running event” on Saturday. Officials believe that Decker traveled to the campground where the girls’ bodies were found on May 29 and returned the next day with his three children, according to court documents.
When the girls were reported missing, the investigation had not met Amber Alert criteria, officials said, but an Endangered Missing Persons Alert had been issued through the Washington State Patrol.
When the bodies of the girls were discovered, there were plastic bags over the heads of each one and their wrists were zip-tied, according to court documents obtained by ABC News.
Around Decker’s vehicle, deputies located zip ties and plastic bags “strewn throughout the area.” The tailgate of the truck had what appeared to be “two hand prints of blood,” according to court documents.
An autopsy determined the girls were suffocated, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said on June 9.
Decker’s mental health struggles, PTSD
Travis Decker had struggled with mental health issues, including PTSD, and was unable to access help through veterans’ resources, Cozart said.
“The courts didn’t fail these girls. It wasn’t the judge and it wasn’t Whitney; it was our system,” Cozart said. “[Whitney] feels like the system really let Travis down. If somebody would have provided Travis with the help that he needed, those girls would be alive.”
During a memorial service for the girls last weekend, Whitney Decker briefly spoke for the first time since her daughters’ deaths. She said the girls had “warm and open hearts.”
“I’m so thankful for the time that I had with the girls. I truly hope that the legacy of the girls’ lives lives in everyone’s hearts forever. They were incredible,” Whitney Decker said at the memorial on June 20.
Decker, who is described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall with black hair and brown eyes, was last seen wearing a light shirt and dark shorts, police said, and a new suspect flyer was released by authorities on June 16. He is currently wanted for three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of kidnapping, police said.
Officials said anyone who has any information on Decker or knows of his whereabouts should call 911 immediately.
(NEW YORK) — A run-in with a rival record executive at Mel’s Drive-in, assault weapons with illegally defaced serial numbers and a sex performance at Trump International Hotel & Tower on Central Park West were some of the topics that jurors in Sean Combs’ criminal trial heard about Tuesday, as prosecutors tried to build their racketeering and sex trafficking case against the rap mogul.
Across nearly six hours of testimony on the trial’s 11th day, federal prosecutors called to the stand Combs’ former personal assistant, a federal agent, the mother of the government’s star witness and a sex worker nicknamed “The Punisher.”
They argued that the wide-reaching testimony helps prove the lengths to which Combs was willing to go to benefit from and protect what they alleged is a criminal enterprise.
Combs has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers argued that his private conduct in the bedroom does not amount of sex trafficking. His lawyers have argued any violence alleged by witnesses was driven by love, jealousy and drug use — not a desire to coerce anyone into sex.
Prosecutors plan to continue their case Wednesday by calling Dawn Hughes, a psychologist who specializes in sex trauma, George Kaplan, a former assistant to Combs and Scott Mescudi, the rapper known as Kid Cudi and who briefly dated Combs’ former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.
Combs’ former assistant testifies about Suge Knight encounter
Combs’ one-time personal assistant David James told jurors about the wide range of tasks he completed for the rap mogul: from stocking hotel rooms and allegedly buying drugs to being the driver when Combs – allegedly armed with multiple guns – wanted to confront rival record executive Marion “Suge” Knight.
Jurors first heard about the alleged interaction between Combs and Knight during the testimony of Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. It allegedly occurred in approximately 2008 or 2009 and was a moment that threatened to dredge up the violent history between the titans of 1990s rap music and the long-standing rivalries between the East and West Coasts.
Ventura testified that, after a so-called “freak off,” a security guard named D-Roc informed him that Knight, the former CEO of Death Row Records and a longtime rival of Combs, was spotted at Mel’s. Despite her pleas to stop, Ventura said Combs packed up his weapons and headed to the restaurant to confront Knight.
“I was crying. I was screaming, like, please don’t do anything stupid,” Ventura testified last week.
James told jurors the other side of the story, describing D-Roc confronting Knight when they were at Mel’s to pick up cheeseburgers for Combs.
“We pulled into the parking lot and D-Roc looks over and says, ‘That’s motherf——- Suge Knight,'” James said, describing how he drove back to Combs’ house to find Combs and Ventura arguing. “Cassie looked very distressed. She was telling him not to go,” James testified.
James testified that Combs, allegedly with three guns on his lap, ordered him to drive back to the diner. It was that moment, he said, that eventually prompted him to stop working for Combs.
“I was really struck by it. I realized for the first time being Mr. Combs’ assistant that my life was in danger,” James testified.
Prosecutors have charged that Combs and his alleged associates used “violence, use of firearms, threats of violence, coercion” to protect and promote the “power of the Combs’ enterprise.”
James also testified about buying and supplying drugs for Combs and stocking the moguls’ hotel rooms with baby oil, Astroglide lubricant, condoms and prophylactics. He told the jury he once accidentally walked in on a freak-off, featuring Ventura and a male sex worker.
When questioned by defense lawyers, James testified that he once had sex with a prostitute and that he declined to pay for her services, and that he got into a physical altercation with another one of Combs’ employees. James said he spoke with prosecutors under a proffer agreement, meaning he had immunity from being prosecuted for anything he said on the stand.
“Have they given you some type of immunity?” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked.
“I’d have to ask my lawyer that question,” he said. “My lawyer said I have no legal visibility.”
Cassie Ventura’s mother testifies about Combs blackmailing her daughter
Regina Ventura, the mother of star witness Cassie Ventura, took the stand on Tuesday to testify about taking a home equity loan to pay Combs in order to prevent him from following through on an alleged threat to release a sex tape of her daughter.
“The threats that have been made towards me by Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs are that … he is going to release 2 explicit sex tapes of me,” Ventura wrote in an email to her mother and Combs’ assistant Capricorn Clark on Dec. 23, 2011. Jurors saw the email when Cassie Ventura testified last week.
“I was physically sick. I did not understand a lot of it. The sex tapes threw me,” Regina Ventura testified about the threat.
Regina Ventura testified that she and her husband decided to take out a loan so they could send Combs the $20,000 he demanded, though he ultimately returned the money.
“We decided that’s the only way we could get the money,” she said. “I was scared for my daughter’s safety.”
Regina Ventura also told jurors she decided to photograph the injuries her daughter allegedly suffered from Combs so that they would have a record of the alleged abuse.
Approximately 15 years after she documented the injuries, prosecutors last week showed the photos to the jury to underscore Cassie Ventura’s testimony about the violence she suffered at Combs’ hands.
‘The Punisher’ testifies about a dozen alleged freak-offs
Known professionally as The Punisher, male escort Sharay Hayes told the jury that he first met Combs and Cassie Ventura in 2012, when he was hired to help create a “sexy erotic scene” for what, Ventura said, was Combs’ birthday. He testified that he got his nickname when he was a teenager based on the way he played basketball.
He testified that Ventura, who used the name Janet when booking sex workers, instructed him to come to Trump International Hotel & Tower on Central Park West in Manhattan to perform a strip act. When he arrived, Ventura asked him to cover her baby oil while Combs watched, Hayes said.
“I was specifically told to not acknowledge her husband. Try not to look at him. No communication between me and him,” Hayes testified. “The room was dimly lit, maybe electronic candles. All of the furniture was covered in sheets and there was an area pretty much for me to sit and for her to sit across from me. There were bowls of water and bottles of baby oil.”
Hayes told jurors that Combs was nude for the encounter and wore a veil, occasionally masturbating during the interaction and offering “subtle directions” to Ventura.
After their first interaction, Hayes said he worked for the couple another eight to 12 times, receiving $1,200 to $2,000 on each occasion.
During their last encounter, Hayes testified Combs instructed him to have sex with Ventura but declined because he could not sexually perform under “a lot of pressure.”
Cross-examined by Combs’ lawyers, Hayes testified that he believed Ventura was comfortable during the exchanges, potentially undercutting the argument she was coerced to participate.
“I didn’t get any cues there was any discomfort there,” Hayes said when asked if Ventura seemed uncomfortable with the encounters.
The question of whether Ventura was forced or participated voluntarily is one of the most critical issues in the prosecution of the onetime cultural icon Combs.
Jurors see evidence of weapons with defaced serial numbers
For the final witness of the day, jurors heard from a federal agent who testified about recovering multiple assault-style weapons from Combs’ Miami Beach residence when it was raided in March 2024. The agent, Gerard Gannon, said the serial numbers of the weapons had been defaced – a violation of federal firearms laws.
Holding parts of the weapons in court for the jury to see, Gannon testified that investigators recovered a 30-round magazine containing 19 rounds and a full 10-round magazine in Combs’ home, with the ammunition on the same shelf as 7-inch platform heels and lingerie.
Prosecutors have alleged Combs and his associates relied on “violence, use of firearms, [and] threats of violence” to operate their criminal enterprise.
