"Pancho" Colorado appeals 20-year sentence in the U.S.

Francisco Colorado Cessa, a Mexican businessman, appealed the sentence of a federal court in Texas for money laundering and attempt to bribe a judge in a case involving Los Zetas cartel.

Colorado, owner of ADT Petroservicios, an oil services company in Veracruz, was one of the 14 people accused in June 2012 of helping Los Zetas launder money with the sale of racehorses.

U.S. authorities accuse him of laundering money for the former chief of Los Zetas, Miguel Treviño Morales, and for his brother Omar since the last decade with transactions in New Mexico, Oklahoma, California and Texas.

He was also accused and sentenced for conspiring along with his son Francisco Agustín Colorado Cebado and his partner Ramón Segura Flores to pay a US$1.2 million bribe in 2013 to federal judge Sam Parks.

He has been sentenced to three and 17 years of prison respectively.