Mother accused of laundering son's drug cash says she did not know where money came from - Jersey Evening Post
by Megan Davies · Jersey Evening PostPosted inNews
Mother accused of laundering son’s drug cash says she did not know where money came from
by Megan Davies 6 August 20266 August 2026
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Royal Court Picture: ROB CURRIE
A MOTHER accused of laundering tens of thousands of pounds generated by her son’s cocaine-importing operation has told the Royal Court that she simply followed his instructions and never questioned where the money came from.
Mariela Josefina Gomez Marquez (55) is on trial, charged with a single count of money-laundering after prosecutors alleged she channelled almost £40,000 of her son Javier Gomez’s illicit cash through her bank account.
There is no dispute that the money was the proceeds of crime. Javier was one of three men convicted over a drugs operation involving cocaine hidden inside power banks.
The issue for the court is whether Mrs Gomez Marquez knew, or at least suspected, that the money had been obtained illegally.
The Crown alleges the arrangement ran from 2023 until April 2025, when her bank froze her account. The prosecution said the amounts increased significantly from July 2024 after Javier’s bank imposed limits on cash deposits.
Giving evidence for much of yesterday, Mrs Gomez Marquez insisted she believed the money was legitimate and denied ever being suspicious.
Questioned by her defence lawyer Advocate Ian Jones about four cash deposits she made within nine minutes on 21 October 2024, she said: “I put it in parts as he told me. I didn’t think anything [of it]. I just did what he said, to put the money in, because he needed it.”
She later transferred £1,700 to a company used to send money to Venezuela.
Mrs Gomez Marquez said her son had instructed her to make the payment.
“He said it was a transfer to pay for the house. I don’t know. I didn’t know a lot of what was going on in his life,” she told the court via a translator.
Asked why she repeatedly split cash deposits into smaller transactions, she replied: “I did them in parts when he told me to put them in, I put them in.”
When Advocate Jones asked whether she knew why her son wanted her to do that, she answered: “No. I don’t know. He didn’t tell me. He never told me anything.”
She said she believed the money came from her son’s job, adding: “He never showed me anything.”
The court heard that between 2023 and 2025, Mrs Gomez Marquez made 176 cash deposits before transferring money to her son’s account.
Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit, prosecuting, challenged her account of her finances, questioning how she could afford to lend Javier £1,500 to buy a car while struggling to meet her own loan repayments.
Mrs Gomez Marquez said she had saved the money from tips earned while working at the Island’s two Premier Inn hotels.
Advocate Maletroit described that explanation as “a lie”. He also repeatedly asked whether there was “any legitimate reason” for breaking cash into smaller deposits.
Mrs Gomez Marquez replied: “He never told me anything as to why.”
Pressed further, she added: “He said that in his bank account, he couldn’t put in the amount.”
Commissioner Patricia Lees is presiding with Jurats Le Heuzé and Opfermann.
The trial continues.
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