EX-BROKER HELPED TO LAUNDER DRUG MONEY, PROSECUTORS SAY

Federal prosecutors charged yesterday that a former broker for Lehman
Brothers helped launder $15 million for a Mexican drug lord and then tried
to further conceal the money after the drug lord became a fugitive from
justice.

The man accused of being a drug lord, Mario Villanueva, was governor of the
state of Quintana Roo on Mexico's Caribbean coast from 1993 to 1999. During
that time, prosecutors say, one of Mexico's most powerful cocaine
organizations, which they called the Southeast Cartel, paid him $30
million. In return, they say, he offered the cartel the cooperation and
protection of the police, and an airplane owned by the governor's office to
store and transport cocaine.

In March 1999, just before Mr. Villanueva was to leave office, losing
immunity from prosecution in Mexico, he disappeared. It was around then,
the indictment says, that the broker, Consuelo Marquez, began moving Mr.
Villanueva's payoff money from Lehman Brothers' accounts to accounts harder
to trace.

"Drug dealers need help to hide and to manage their money," said James B.
Comey, the United States attorney in Manhattan. "It's got to go someplace.
And drug dealers cannot turn to the local garage mechanic to help them hide
$30 million in drug payoff money."

He added that the investigation turned up a "blizzard of transactions
necessary to hide this money."

Ms. Marquez is expected to surrender today in Federal District Court in
Manhattan. One of her lawyers, Catherine M. Foti, said her client "would
like to state that she is innocent of all charges, and looks forward to
being exonerated."

Ms. Marquez, if convicted, could face up to 20 years in prison, and more
time for bank and wire fraud, prosecutors said. Mr. Comey said the
government was also seeking forfeiture of $15 million - the amount that
prosecutors say was laundered by Ms. Marquez. Mr. Comey said her specialty
was Mexican accounts and she was introduced to the governor through
legitimate business.

Mr. Comey said Lehman Brothers was unaware of the scheme, and had
cooperated with the government. A Lehman Brothers spokesman said yesterday
that the firm "has a longstanding commitment to fighting money laundering,
and will not tolerate any violation of its policies."

When Ms. Marquez's conduct came to light a year and a half ago, she was
fired, the spokesman said, and the firm "has continued its active
cooperation with the government in this matter."

Mr. Comey also announced the unsealing of another indictment that charges
senior members of the cartel with importing hundreds of tons of cocaine
into the United States. He said the indictments stem from a "new and
enormously productive partnership" with Mexican law enforcement officials.

Mr. Villanueva, who is named in both the money laundering and narcotics
trafficking indictments, was arrested in May 2001 in Cancun after two years
as a fugitive. He was charged at the time with conspiring to ship 200 tons
of cocaine into the United States for millions in bribes. The United States
is seeking his extradition, prosecutors said.

Mr. Comey said that the cartel dominated the drug trade in Mexico's Gulf
Coast, particularly in the Yucatan peninsula, and in the state of Quintana
Roo. He said the investigation showed that hundreds of tons of cocaine were
trucked across the border, through Texas and toward Chicago, then toward
the Northeast, including New York.

Felix J. Jimenez, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement
Administration's New York field office, said the recent arrests had
disrupted the cartel, but that some factions were still operating.