Mexican companies sanctioned for alleged links to a cartel

MIAMI (EFE).— The United States Department of the Treasury yesterday sanctioned two Mexican companies and their owners, two leaders of cells linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of the largest producers and traffickers of fentanyl to the United States.

Those sanctioned are Juan Carlos Bañuelos Ramírez and Gerardo Rivera Ibarra, responsible for sending methamphetamine and fentanyl to the United States through Inmobiliaria Universal Deja Vu, SA and Fornely Lab, SA, respectively, the federal agency said in a statement.

Bañuelos Ramírez “launders money, acquires chemical precursors and supervises production laboratories within Mexico,” for which he “acquires precursor chemicals” from Mexicans located outside of Mexico, he explained.

He is also responsible for shipping counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl from his laboratory in Mexico and manages the production of methamphetamine in laboratories in Jalisco, according to the note.

To export to the United States and other destinations, Bañuelos has often “smuggled the drugs inside machinery,” in addition to purchasing automatic weapons for the CJNG and high-quality drones for the criminal organization.

Bañuelos was previously indicted by a federal grand jury in the Central District of California, the Treasury Department said in the statement.

For its part, Rivera Ibarra’s cell, which supplies fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States, operates in Jalisco and has ties to Audias Flores Silva, a high-ranking member of the CJNG designated under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act).

Both were sanctioned for having participated or attempted to participate in activities that have materially contributed to the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means of production.

As a result of the action, all property and interests in property of the designated and sanctioned individuals that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked.

Any entity that is owned, directly or indirectly, individually or jointly, by 50% or more of one or more blocked persons is also blocked, the statement said.

Over the past month, the U.S. government “has imposed five new rounds of sanctions targeting transnational criminal organizations, including traffickers and revenue schemes of the CJNG and other cartels that flood fentanyl,” said Brian E. Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

The measure was coordinated between the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the Government of Mexico, among other institutions and security and investigation agencies.