Maximiliano Davila Perez, the former director of Bolivia’s national anti-narcotics agency, was sentenced on Mar. 19 to 25 years in prison for conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and a related firearms offense. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote after Davila Perez was convicted in October following a one-week jury trial.
Davila Perez previously led Bolivia’s Fuerza Especial de Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico (FELCN) and was extradited from Bolivia in December 2024. Prosecutors said he abused his position to facilitate large-scale cocaine trafficking operations while serving as the country’s top counternarcotics officer.
“Maximiliano Davila Perez wielded extraordinary power as Bolivia’s top counternarcotics officer and chose to abuse that power to support the very drug traffickers he was sworn to investigate, all to send massive quantities of cocaine to New York,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Now, because of Davila Perez’s corruption and brazen attempt to flood our streets with cocaine, he will spend 25 years in federal prison. Our Office, alongside our partners at the DEA’s Special Operations Division, will continue to root out high-level narco-corruption around the globe that threatens our country and New Yorkers.”
DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said: “Betrayal of public trust by a law enforcement official is a complete abandonment of the oath they swore to uphold. Maximiliano Dávila Pérez turned his office into a criminal enterprise—protecting traffickers, ensuring the movement of cocaine, and directly enabling the flow of drugs into the United States. His actions fueled violence, corruption, and addiction. Today’s sentence makes clear that no badge, no title, and no position will shield those who choose crime over duty. DEA will identify, expose, and bring to justice anyone who abuses power to traffic drugs into our communities, wherever they operate.”
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between February 2019 and November 2019—and beyond—Davila Perez used his influence within FELCN both to divert investigations away from favored traffickers and provide armed security for shipments leaving Bolivian airports bound for New York via other countries. He authorized sample deliveries of cocaine during meetings with undercover sources working with U.S. authorities.
In addition to his prison term, Davila Perez received five years of supervised release. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew J.C. Hellman, David J. Robles, and Chelsea L. Scism from the National Security and International Narcotics Unit.
