The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned agents of a black market peso exchange scheme (BMPE) “to launder millions in illicit fentanyl profits for the Sinaloa Cartel“.
According to a statement issued by the agencyamong those sanctioned include the Mexico-based cell phone company Smart Depot, as well as the brothers Arturo D’Artagnan Marín González and Porthos Marin Gonzalez.
In total, 15 members of the Sinaloa Cartel and six entities from Mexico were sanctioned.
According to the US government, the Marín brothers negotiated sales of fentanyl in the United States and used the proceeds, primarily in dollars, to purchase cell phones from US companies.
Once transported to Mexico, The phones were sold in Smart Depot storesa business that prospered allowing traffickers from the Sinaloa Cartel to receive “illicit profits in their national currency,” the statement reads.
In addition to Smart Depot, the Treasury imposed economic sanctions on four companies created by Adilene Robledo and Ivan Robledo based in Culiacán, Sinaloa.
These are Bufaluss and Dulce Volcan, from the food sector, and clothing retailers Royal Room Dress and Total Look.
“A top priority is stopping the illicit entry of fentanyl into the United States and disrupting the cartels trafficking this deadly drug,” said U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Wally Adeyemo.
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