US asks for life in prison for brother of Honduran president

The US government wants Tony Hernandez to return $138.5m in ‘blood money’ and pay an additional $10m fine.

A brother of Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez should be sentenced to life in prison for running a “state-sponsored drug trafficking conspiracy” with the nation’s current leader, US federal prosecutors say in documents filed before a sentencing hearing scheduled next week. Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernandez, a former Honduran congressman, was convicted in October 2019 of participating in a conspiracy to traffic in cocaine to the United States that involved the use of machineguns. His sentencing, which has been delayed multiple times, is scheduled for Tuesday in New York.