Agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) announced they seized $10 million in crypto linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, the latest blow against an organization that has seen one of its leaders plea guilty to U.S. charges last week.
The seizure took place in Miami and was part of a broader, nationwide operation where authorities seized 44 million fentanyl pills, 4,500 pounds of fentanyl powder and some 65,000 pounds of methamphetamine since January, according to the Justice Department added.
“DEA is hitting the cartels where it hurts — with arrests, with seizures, and with relentless pressure,” said DEA acting Administrator Robert Murphy in a statement reported by CBS News.
U.S. authorities have repeatedly targeted the cartel over the past months. In June, U.S. officials said a real estate firm, a spa, and a clothing rental service were some front companies used by a faction of the cartel known as the Chapitos to launder proceeds from their fentanyl trafficking operations.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a network of cartel associates and businesses based in Mazatlán, Sinaloa. Officials allege the network has been used for drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping and money laundering.
Of the 10 businesses included in the sanctions, Infobae Méxicoreports that three maintain active social media profiles and at least two appear to still be operating. One of them is Carpe Diem Spa, located in a condominium complex along Mazatlán’s Marina Boulevard, one of the city’s busiest roads.
In May, a federal indictment revealed the outlines of a sophisticated international money laundering network linked to the cartel, with operations spanning multiple continents and intersecting with armed groups and corrupt state actors.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the case charged three men—Wisam Nagib Kherfan-Okde, Antoine “Tony” Kassis, and Alirio Rafael Quintero-Quintero—with laundering millions in drug proceeds through a web of aliases, crypto transactions, and illicit exchanges of cash, cocaine, and weapons.
Originally published on Latin Times
