Treasury Sanctions Mexican Cartel Members, Issues Bank Advisory

The Treasury Department this week sanctioned eight people with ties to the Mexico-based La Nueva Familia Michoacana drug cartel and issued a new advisory to help banks stop transactions linked to sales of fentanyl and other illegal drugs.

The designations target Rodolfo Maldonado Bustos, Josue Ramirez Carrera, Josue Lopez Hernandez, David Duran Alvarez, Uriel Tabares Martinez, Kevin Arzate Gomez, Euclides Camacho Goicochea and Lucio Ochoa Lagunes, all of whom either work for the cartel or work with cartel members. The Office of Foreign Assets Control published a chart of La Nueva Familia Michoacana leaders and associates.

The advisory, issued by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, urges banks to file suspicious activity reports if they suspect a transaction involves the sale of illegal chemicals. The advisory also lists a range of red flags for banks to monitor, including customers or counterparties with previous drug-related convictions or that have a chemical or pharmaceutical company in mainland China and Hong Kong and that share an address with similar businesses. Banks should also monitor for Mexican companies that import shipments of fentanyl precursor chemicals and manufacturing equipment “without appropriate importing licenses and registrations.”

Banks can reference this advisory by including the term “FENTANYL FIN-2024-A002” when filing a suspicious activity report with FinCEN.