SHERMAN – Veteran Austin lawyer Jamie Balagia sat inside the accused cocaine kingpin’s room in a Colombian prison when his investigator suddenly mentioned paying off officials in Washington D.C. to make the man’s charges go away. What did he do?
Nothing, according to the government. “You just sat there,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Rattan said Wednesday during Balagia’s federal corruption trial.
But Balagia, 62, a former Austin vice cop, told jurors that his “old undercover” instincts kicked in when Chuck Morgan made the comment, and he reacted by not reacting. Or as he put it, I “shut my mouth and sat there.”
Morgan, a former U.S. government drug informant, had just lied to the Colombian kingpin, and Balagia said his main concern at the time was to “preserve my life.” It was the DWI expert’s first international drug trafficking case. Balagia’s small but thriving practice up to that point was largely limited to misdemeanor drunken driving cases.
“I was shocked,” Balagia said Wednesday during his first day of testimony. “I was in a hornet’s nest.”
The meeting was held to update Balagia’s client, Segundo Segura, about his criminal case in North Texas. The Colombian was accused of producing multi-tons of cocaine in his country, and the feds considered him the world’s top supplier of the drug.
Balagia is accused of shaking down Segura as well as two other high-level Colombian drug traffickers by lying to them about getting their charges dismissed in exchange for as much as $1.5 million, some of which would supposedly be used to bribe U.S. officials.
The Austin native is facing decades in prison if he is convicted of money laundering, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, and attempting to violate the Kingpin Act — for accepting money from men whom the feds designated as significant drug traffickers without an official license.
Morgan’s statement to Segura – at La Picota prison in December 2015 -- was captured on videotape that was shown to jurors last week during the trial, now in its second week. One of Balagia’s main defenses is that Morgan, a supposed sophisticated veteran of international drug cases, duped him into taking part because of his inexperience -- in order to pull off a daring swindle of three very dangerous men.
It is a key bit of evidence against Balagia, who for the first time had the opportunity to explain his inaction that day.
“I never agreed to pay anyone anywhere,” Balagia said. “It was the craziest thing I ever heard.”
Balagia told jurors on Wednesday that it wasn’t only his life he was worried about. He said he didn’t immediately report Morgan’s statements about bribery to American authorities because Morgan told him it could get their partner – a Colombian attorney – killed along with her entire family if the drug lord learned he was being scammed.
“I believed Chuck when he told me that,” Balagia said.
The DWI Dude -- known as such for a legal career built on drunken driving cases -- said he did eventually try to report Morgan’s actions to the lead North Texas prosecutor, Ernest Gonzalez, and two DEA agents in May 2016. But the reaction, he said, wasn’t what he expected.
Gonzalez, he said, quipped: “Like I’m that cheap,” in response to Morgan’s suggestion that he could be bribed.
“Everybody in the room laughed at me,” Balagia told jurors.
He said he was so frustrated by their reaction, he didn’t tell anyone else.
During cross-examination, Rattan continually questioned Balagia, who earlier in the day professed having book and street smarts, about how he could have been so easily duped.
“Are you deliberately… looking the other way while these crimes are being committed?” she asked.
Balagia said he wasn’t. He said he was lied to and “made a fool of” by Morgan, whose past work as an federal drug informant has been kept from the jury by order of the judge.
“Now it’s Chuck Morgan’s fault?” Rattan asked, after saying he blamed everything he’s charged with on other people. “It’s always somebody else’s fault, is that right Mr. Balagia?”
She also asked Balagia about a comment he made to Segura during that meeting, that he had to “close my ears” to protect all of them.
Balagia said he was referring to certain intelligence Morgan would obtain through investigation to present to him so he could give it to prosecutors – in an attempt to get Segura get a reduced sentence.
Balagia also said he disagreed with Morgan’s statement during the meeting that Balagia was the “brains” behind the operation. Morgan is serving six years in prison after pleading guilty to his role in the alleged scheme.
Cross-examination of Balagia continues Thursday.
