The mayor of Ecuador’s largest port arrested on money laundering and tax evasion charges

The mayor of Ecuador’s largest port city was arrested Tuesday on charges of money laundering and tax evasion, prosecutors in the South American country said.

In a social media post, Ecuador’s Attorney General’s office said it detained an additional 10 people linked to the case, including mayor Aquiles Álvarez’s brother Xavier, who is the president of a popular soccer club.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Álvarez’s lawyer Ramiro Garcia said he had not been given a dossier of the case against the mayor. “This looks like a case of. political persecution” Garcia said.

The Attorney General’s office shared photos of a raid in Guayaquil, depicting laptops, phones and wads of cash that were confiscated by police.

Officials said that at the time of his detention, Alvarez was not wearing an ankle monitor that he had been ordered to use by a court that is investigating the mayor for a separate case, involving