Maximiliano Davila Perez, Former Director Of Bolivia’s National Anti-Narcotics Agency, Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison For Conspiring To Import Cocaine And Related Firearms Offense

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and Administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA"), Terrance Cole, announced that MAXIMILIANO DAVILA PEREZ was sentenced today to 25 years in prison for participating in a cocaine-importation conspiracy and a related weapons offense. DAVILA PEREZ is the former director of Bolivia's chief anti-narcotics law enforcement agency, Fuerza Especial de Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico ("FELCN") and was extradited to the United States from Bolivia in December 2024. Davila Perez was convicted on October 23, 2025, following a one-week jury trial before U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote, who imposed today's sentence.

"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."

"Betrayal of public trust by a law enforcement official is a complete abandonment of the oath they swore to uphold," said DEA Administrator Terrance Cole. "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."

As reflected in the Superseding Indictment, other filings in Manhattan federal court, evidence at trial, and statements made in court proceedings:

Between approximately February 2019 and November 2019, while DAVILA PEREZ served as the Director of FELCN, and thereafter, he exploited his office and his powerful political and law enforcement connections to facilitate massive, international-scale cocaine trafficking. DAVILA PEREZ's methods included both diverting law enforcement from investigating favored cocaine traffickers and providing heavily armed FELCN personnel as security for cocaine shipments leaving Bolivian airports. DAVILA PEREZ conspired with others to manufacture, ship, and provide armed protection for more than one metric ton of cocaine destined for the United States, and specifically, for New York.

DAVILA PEREZ did so during meetings and calls with his co-conspirators that were recorded by DEA confidential sources (the "CSes") who also participated between approximately 2019 and 2020. Those meetings and calls resulted in the arrangement of a 10-kilogram sample of cocaine, authorized by DAVILA PEREZ, to be provided to the CSes in Lima, Peru, in December 2019. Throughout the conspiracy, DAVILA PEREZ repeatedly emphasized his willingness to participate in and provide protection for a shipment of over one ton of cocaine leaving Bolivia and transiting through the Dominican Republic before ultimately reaching New York.

DAVILA PEREZ made explicit his plans to facilitate that shipment. During recorded calls and meetings, DAVILA PEREZ suggested certain airports where he controlled airport security and could divert FELCN personnel to ensure a plane would successfully be loaded with cocaine. Specifically, DAVILA PEREZ said that on the day of the cocaine shipment, he would carry out an operation elsewhere and "take out everyone," that is, ensure no investigative or operational FELCN personnel were available to interfere with the drug plot. He also committed to sending certain FELCN agents to guard the plane with their standard issue firearms-high-powered machineguns- as it was loaded with cocaine. DAVILA PEREZ also made explicit that he intended to profit from this cocaine deal, telling one of the CSes on a recording that "you are also going to profit, I am going to win too." As the plot progressed over several months, DAVILA PEREZ continued to assure his co-conspirators and the CSes that he would arrange for the armed protection of the cocaine shipment so that it could safely leave Bolivia. And DAVILA PEREZ made clear that he had no regard for the fact that the cocaine was destined for the United States, telling a co-conspirator that he did not "give a shit," because "the important thing is that the plane should take off and that we receive our money."

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In addition to the prison term, DAVILA PEREZ, 62, was sentenced to five years of supervised release.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding efforts of the DEA's Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs.

This case is being handled by the Office's National Security and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew J.C. Hellman, David J. Robles, and Chelsea L. Scism are in charge of the prosecution.