OFAC Sanctions Mexican Drug Traffickers, Launches New Strike Force

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 15 Mexican people and two companies linked to the Beltran Leyva Organization, one of the world’s “most powerful” drug trafficking groups. The designations were announced during a trip by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to Mexico City, where she discussed strengthening U.S.-Mexican efforts to counter fentanyl trafficking, and came after the agency launched a new, multi-agency Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force that it said will improve how the U.S. targets drug traffickers with sanctions and civil and criminal penalties.

The new designations targeted the leaders of Beltran Leyva, their associates and a Mexican lawyer that works for clients with ties to the organization. Other sanctions target people for smuggling drugs into the U.S., their logistics coordinators, a boat mechanic and more.

Yellen said one of Treasury’s “top sanctions priorities” is designating drug traffickers and their financiers. She said OFAC has sanctioned more than 250 targets over the last year for involvement in drug trafficking activities, and said the new strike force “will allow us to strategically make use of Treasury’s expertise in combatting illicit finance and our sanctions authorities, law enforcement authorities, and intelligence collection and information-sharing tools.”