The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control recently designated three money launders based in Mexico and China for supporting the Sinaloa Cartel, an organization responsible for trafficking fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the United States. This action was taken in close coordination with the Government of Mexico, including La Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera (“UIF”), and furthers the efforts of the U.S. Treasury’s Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force, a group aimed at disrupting the illicit financial networks used by drug cartels. According to OFAC, the new sanctions also build upon a decision reached by President Biden and President Xi Jinping, in November 2023, to resume bilateral efforts by the United States and China to combat the manufacture and trafficking of illegal drugs, including fentanyl, and the illicit financing networks behind these activities.
OFAC designated Mexico-based Diego Acosta Ovalle and China-based Tong Peiji and He Jiaxuan, who are both members of a U.S.-based Chinese money laundering organization. The designations were imposed pursuant to Executive Order 14059 for their participation in activities that have materially contributed to the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means of production. As a result of these designations, all property and interests in property of the designated persons within the United States or within the possession or control of a U.S. person are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions involving a designated person. Entities owned 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.