‘DWI Dude’ lawyer jailed for scamming Colombian drug cartels out of $1.5M

A Texas attorney known as the “DWI Dude” has been sentenced to federal prison for 16 years for his part in scamming Colombian drug traffickers out of $1.5 million.

Jamie Balagia, 65, of Collin County, was found guilty of “conspiring with a Florida private investigator and Colombian attorney in 2014, to swindle Colombian drug traffickers under the guise of bribing officials in the United States,” local ABC News stations reported. Balaga was part of a group of people who claimed that in exchange for inflated “attorney fees,” they would bribe government officials “resulting in either the dismissal of their criminal charges or significant reductions in their US federal prison sentences. In reality, there were no bribes or government officials,” the station reports.