On February 22, 2023, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, working in coordination with the Government of Mexico, designated six individuals and several businesses controlled by them. The designations, pursuant to Executive Order 14059, target those involved in the illicit methamphetamine and fentanyl production and trade.
Three members of the Zamudio family – two brothers and one of their sons – are among the designees, based on their involvement in the supply of precursor chemicals to the Sinaloa Cartel. Other designees, such as Luis Gerardo Flores Madrid, Ernesto Machado Torres and Jose Santana Arredondo Beltran, are high-ranking members of the cartel, and operators of large laboratories that produce the illicit drugs.
The six designated companies are real estate and import/export businesses that are owned, controlled, or directed by members of the Zamudio family.
As a result of these designations, all property and interests in property of the designees within the United States or within the possession or control of a US person are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions involving the designated persons.