The U.S. Department of the Treasury has identified and sanctioned two Mexican banks and one brokerage firm over their alleged role in helping multiple cartels launder millions of dollars.
This week, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a series of orders and sanctions identifying three financial institutions in Mexico as being a “primary money laundering concern.” The move is based on a series of new powers given to treasury agents under the FEND OFF Fentanyl Act, a prepared statement revealed.
The two banks are CIBanco SA and Intercam Banco SA, which have assets of $7 billion and $4 billion, respectively. The brokerage firm, Vector Casa de Bolsa, manages $11 billion in assets. The Treasury Department revealed that the three institutions played a “longstanding and vital role” in laundering millions for Mexican cartels and also helped them pay for fentanyl precursors.
“Financial facilitators like CIBanco, Intercam, and Vector are enabling the poisoning of countless Americans by moving money on behalf of cartels, making them vital cogs in the fentanyl supply chain,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.
In the case of CIBanco, the Treasury Department revealed that the bank allegedly collaborated with the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), and the Gulf Cartel. One of the examples cited by authorities is that in 2023, a Gulf Cartel member established an account to launder $10 million. They also claimed that between 2021 and 2024, the bank allegedly moved $2.1 million in payments for fentanyl precursors to Chinese companies.
In the case of Interbank, Treasury officials claim that bank members met with leaders of Cartel Jalisco New Generation in 2022 to discuss money laundering schemes. Authorities claim that from 2021 to 2024, the bank moved $1.5 million in payments to Chinese companies to pay for fentanyl precursors.
In the case of Vector, authorities claim that from 2013 to 2021, a money man from the Sinaloa Cartel used the brokerage firm to launder and move $2 million from the United States to Mexico. Then, from 2018 to 2023, the firm moved $1 million from Mexico to China as payments for fentanyl precursors.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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