Breaking News: Secretary Yellen Announces Sanctions Against Top Leaders of Mexico’s La Nueva Familia Michoacana Drug Cartel, New Fentanyl Advisory
”CHAR” for Borderland Beat
This information was reposted from the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
PRESS RELEASE
OFAC sanctions target powerful cartel trafficking fentanyl into the United States
FinCEN Advisory provides crucial information to help financial institutions track illicit fentanyl financial flows
WASHINGTON — Today, alongside law enforcement leaders in Atlanta, Georgia, Secretary Yellen announced that the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned eight Mexico-based targets affiliated with La Nueva Familia Michoacana drug cartel for trafficking fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine into the United States. In addition to narcotics trafficking, La Nueva Familia Michoacana smuggles migrants from Mexico into the United States. La Nueva Familia Michoacana is one of the most powerful and violent cartels in Mexico and has become a priority focus of the Mexican government in recent years.
Concurrently, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Supplemental Advisory to highlight critical new information to help U.S. banks and other financial institutions guard against activity associated with the illicit fentanyl supply chain. The advisory includes new trends and red flags that can be indicators of activity associated with the procurement of precursor chemicals and manufacturing equipment used for the synthesis of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. Reporting from financial institutions of suspected financial transactions involving illicit fentanyl and narcotics trafficking plays a key role in law enforcement investigations and Treasury’s sanctions efforts globally.
“The opioid crisis, and especially the rise of synthetic opioids like fentanyl, has devastated communities and claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans. President Biden and I are committed to using every tool we have to target illicit fentanyl and its precursor chemicals so we can disrupt these deadly supply chains,” said Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen. “Treasury has unique capabilities and expertise to target the financial flows of these cartels who are poisoning our communities, and going after them is a top priority for me and the Department.”
Treasury plays a leading role in countering the trafficking of fentanyl and other illicit drugs as part of President Biden’s Unity Agenda, leveraging its expertise to fight illicit financing and financial crimes to disrupt the flows of money that criminal organizations rely on to operate. Over the past two years, Treasury has sanctioned more than 250 targets for involvement in drug trafficking activities at all stages of the supply chain, from major cartel leaders to under-the-radar labs, transportation networks, and chemical suppliers. Last year, Secretary Yellen launched the Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force, which brings together Treasury’s expertise and resources in fighting financial crime, led by the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) and IRS Criminal Investigation (CI). Secretary Yellen has also engaged with international partners to combat fentanyl trafficking, including during her travel to Mexico last year. In April, Secretary Yellen also announced the launch of an exchange with the People’s Republic of China to enhance cooperating in combatting money laundering associated with drug trafficking and other crime.
Additionally, FinCEN and IRS CI recently established a new public-private information-sharing partnership series called “Promoting Regional Outreach to Educate Communities on the Threat of Fentanyl” (or PROTECT). Launched as part of the Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force, the PROTECT series brings law enforcement agencies and financial institutions together to share typologies and approaches on combatting illicit fentanyl trafficking in U.S. cities that are highly impacted by the opioid epidemic.
LA NUEVA FAMILIA MICHOACANA’S INVOLVEMENT IN DRUG TRAFFICKING AND HUMAN SMUGGLING
Historically, La Nueva Familia Michoacana trafficked mostly methamphetamine. However, in recent years, it has expanded into fentanyl trafficking, obtaining the necessary precursor chemicals, purchasing critical pill press machines, and then producing fentanyl in throughout Mexico, including in Mexico City, Pineda, Santa Teresa, Ciudad Altamirano, Tejupilco, Arcelia, Cuernavaca, Culiacan, Guadalajara, and Toluca, Mexico. La Nueva Familia Michoacana sends fentanyl and other drugs to the United States through Nuevo Laredo and Tamaulipas/Reynosa across the southern Texas border via buses, among other modes of transportation. Once the drugs are in the United States, the drugs are then sent to multiple cities across the United States, including Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Tulsa, Chicago, and Charlotte.
La Nueva Familia Michoacana is also involved in human smuggling. For instance, La Nueva Familia Michoacana members stage photos and videos in which individuals appear under interrogation or at risk of being murdered. With these photos or videos in hand, the individuals will then falsely claim to United States immigration officials their purported need to seek asylum in the United States. In return for this service, the individuals pay La Nueva Familia Michoacana money. Separately, La Nueva Familia Michoacana is also known for forcing individuals to enter the United States illegally with drugs for the purpose of selling narcotics in the United States. If the individuals do not comply with the order to sell the drugs provided by La Nueva Familia Michoacana, they are informed that they and their families will be killed. La Nueva Familia Michoacana also uses workers in the tobacco industry to smuggle narcotics into the United States.
TOP LEADERS OF LA NUEVA FAMILIA MICHOACANA
Rodolfo Maldonado Bustos is a powerful and trusted member of La Nueva Familia Michoacana cartel and is next-in-line to Johnny Hurtado Olascoaga and Jose Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga, the two co-leaders of La Nueva Familia Michoacana, both of whom OFAC designated in November 2022. Rodolfo Maldonado Bustos controls the drug routes that pass from Ciudad Altamirano, Guerrero, Mexico to the Zihuatanejo-Lazaro Cardenas, Guerrero, Mexico area. On April 23, 2017, a federal grand jury in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia returned an indictment against Rodolfo Maldonado Bustos on two counts of heroin conspiracy charges.
These designations would not have been possible without the cooperation, support, and ongoing collaboration between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia. This action was also coordinated closely with the Government of Mexico, including La Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera (UIF), Mexico’s financial intelligence unit. In addition, today’s action furthers efforts by Treasury’s Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force, which leverages Treasury’s unique expertise and capabilities to interdict and disrupt the illicit financial networks upon which the cartels rely. These collective partnerships highlight the importance of broader U.S. government collaboration in targeting illicit fentanyl supply chains.
FINCEN SUPPLEMENTAL ADVISORY
As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. U.S. persons may face civil or criminal penalties for violations of E.O. 14059.
Today’s action is part of a whole-of-government effort to counter the global threat posed by the trafficking of illicit drugs into the United States that is causing the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans annually, as well as countless more non-fatal overdoses. OFAC, in coordination with its U.S. government partners and foreign counterparts, and in support of President Biden’s Unity Agenda, will continue to hold accountable those individuals and businesses involved in the manufacturing and sale of illicit drugs.
The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC’s ability to designate and add persons to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List), but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior. For information concerning the process for seeking removal from an OFAC list, including the SDN List, please refer to OFAC’s Frequently Asked Question 897 here. For detailed information on the process to submit a request for removal from an OFAC sanctions list, please click here.
Click here for the FinCEN Supplemental Advisory.
For more information on the individuals designated today, click here.
View a chart on the individuals designated today.
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Source: https://www.borderlandbeat.com/2024/06/breaking-news-secretary-yellen.html
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