In the United States Court of Appeals For the Second Circuit ________

AUGUST TERM 2022

ARGUED: NOVEMBER 1, 2022 DECIDED: JULY 6, 2023

No. 21-1711(L), 21-1847(Con)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellee,

v.

FRANCIS JOSE AYBAR-PEGUERO, AKA GRENA, Defendant-Appellant. ________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. ________ Before: WALKER, LEE, and NATHAN, Circuit Judges. ________

1 Defendant-Appellant Francis Jose Aybar-Peguero pled guilty to drug trafficking in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 and 846 and concealment money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i). During his plea colloquy, speaking through a Spanish-English interpreter, Aybar-Peguero repeatedly failed to acknowledge that he had intended to conceal the proceeds of his drug trafficking, an element of concealment money laundering. On appeal, Aybar-Peguero contends that his conviction for concealment money laundering should be reversed because an insufficient factual basis existed for his guilty plea pursuant to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. We agree.

For the reasons that follow, we VACATE Aybar-Peguero’s § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i) conviction and sentence, and REMAND for proceedings consistent with this opinion. ________

ELIZABETH A. LATIF, West Hartford, CT, for Defendant-Appellant Francis Jose Aybar-Peguero.

JOCELYN C. KAOUTZANIS (Marc H. Silverman, on the brief), Assistant United States Attorneys, for Leonard C. Boyle, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, New Haven, CT, for Appellee the United States of America. ________

2 JOHN M. WALKER, JR., Circuit Judge:

Defendant-Appellant Francis Jose Aybar-Peguero pled guilty to drug trafficking in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 and 846 and concealment money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i). During his plea colloquy, speaking through a Spanish-English interpreter, Aybar-Peguero repeatedly failed to acknowledge that he had intended to conceal the proceeds of his drug trafficking, an element of concealment money laundering. On appeal, Aybar-Peguero contends that his conviction for concealment money laundering should be reversed because an insufficient factual basis existed for his guilty plea pursuant to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. We agree.

For the reasons that follow, we VACATE Aybar-Peguero’s § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i) conviction and sentence, and REMAND for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

Between May 2019 and October 2019, Aybar-Peguero conspired with members of a drug trafficking organization to sell narcotics out of his convenience store, the Corner Mini Market in Waterbury, Connecticut. Following an extensive investigation, law enforcement agents arrested Aybar-Peguero and searched his store. They found large quantities of heroin and fentanyl, other evidence of drug trafficking such as digital scales and a concealed compartment, and, in the store’s cash register, drugs packaged for distribution. Although the agen