内容摘要：There is, however, a political upside to investigating ActBlue. The platform has proved more successful than WinRed, the Republican platform designed to imitate it, which took in less than half of the $3.8 billion that ActBlue raised during the 2024 election cycle.

There is, however, a political upside to investigating ActBlue. The platform has proved more successful than WinRed, the Republican platform designed to imitate it, which took in less than half of the $3.8 billion that ActBlue raised during the 2024 election cycle.

Special Agent José Irizarry — a former air marshal from Puerto Rico hired by the DEA in 2009 despite— landed a coveted overseas post in Cartagena, Colombia, in part because he was bilingual. He met Marín in 2011, not long after the head of Colombia’s police publicly identified Marín as a major smuggler.

The DEA’s elite Special Operations Division also had pegged Marín as a major player. The agency even sought to classify him as a so-called Consolidated Priority Target, reserved for the most prolific drug traffickers and money launderers, according to hundreds of pages of Justice Department reports obtained by the AP. The investigative records, which include FBI interview notes, internal DEA memos and private text messages among agents, show Marín had been on the radar of at least five federal law enforcement agencies by the time Irizarry was charged.This 2017 photo obtained by The Associated Press shows Jose Irizarry in Cartagena, Colombia. (AP Photo/File)This 2017 photo obtained by The Associated Press shows Jose Irizarry in Cartagena, Colombia. (AP Photo/File)

But Irizarry believed Marín could be more valuable as an informant. “Marín would come over and they would play cards and have girls over,” according to an investigative IRS report. The meetings in Colombia were the first of many that would flout DEA rules forbidding agents from socializing with informants.Soon, the government records show, Marín tried to compromise the DEA, showering Irizarry with expensive Hublot watches, luxury cars and a $750,000 condo.

Instead of providing Irizarry with intelligence, Marín gave him a Tiffany ring for his Colombian wife, as well as $5,000 in cash so the agent could buy a gift for his mistress. One internal government record said Marín “viewed Irizarry like a son.”

Irizarry began protecting Marín and his organization, signing him up as an informant in 2013. “He would pay me,” Irizarry told the AP, “and if he ever needed me, he had me.”Internal Revenue Service National Office, San Mateo, Calif. (12,089 square feet)

Internal Revenue Service National Office, Sarasota, Fla. (12,941 square feet)Internal Revenue Service National Office, Savannah, Ga. (15,492 square feet)

Railroad Retirement Board, Scranton, Pa. (1,250 square feet)Bureau of Indian Affairs, Seminole, Okla. (9,825 square feet)