OAN Staff Gabriella Sable
2:17 PM – Monday, March 31, 2025
On Monday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned six individuals and seven entities involved in money laundering for the Sinaloa Cartel. The cartel, one of the world’s most notorious drug trafficking organizations, is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States.
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In a post on X, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the Trump administration is committed to cutting off the funding to the Sinaloa Cartel.
“Our administration is committed to cutting off their funding and neutralizing the threat through all available tools,” Bessent argued.
Additionally, Bessent explained that the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an alert to help financial institutions “detect and deter bulk cash smuggling by transnational criminal organizations.”
“The alert outlines methodologies associated with these operations and highlights red flag indicators in an effort to better equip financial institutions to counter this illicit activity,” a press release from the Department of Treasury explained.
Bessent asserted that the sanctioning is part of a synchronized messaging effort by the Trump administration to project the return of American strength.
“Today’s action builds on the great and coordinated work across the Trump administration,” Bessent said. “From the White House to DHS to the DOJ, we have a steady drumbeat of regulatory and sanctions actions, as well as national security actions sending a clear message that American strength is back.”
According to the press release from the Department of Treasury, the sanctioning followed investigations by several agencies both foreign and domestic, and a series of actions in previous years targeting the sale and production of fentanyl in the United States.
The press release explained that these sanctions helped to protect the U.S. dollar by blocking cartel operators from accessing U.S. financial systems.
“These sanctions have safeguarded the integrity of the U.S. dollar by denying cartel operators and their affiliates access to the U.S. financial system, as well as supported U.S. and foreign law enforcement efforts to combat the Sinaloa Cartel,” the Department of Treasury’s press release said.
The press release further clarified that any sanctioned individuals with U.S.-based property must have their assets blocked and reported to OFAC.
“As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated persons that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC,” said the press release.
“In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked,” continued the press release. “Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.”
Finally, the press release noted that the action was taken to counter the trafficking of drugs into the U.S.
“Today’s action is part of a whole-of-government effort to counter the global threat posed by the trafficking of illicit drugs into the United States that is causing the deaths of over a hundred thousand Americans annually, as well as countless more non-fatal overdoses,” the press release said.
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