Treasury Disrupts Sinaloa Cartel Narco-Terrorist Fentanyl Trafficking Operations

WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned more than a dozen individuals and entities, comprising two distinct networks, linked to the terrorist Sinaloa Cartel and its fentanyl trafficking activities. Armando de Jesus Ojeda Aviles (Ojeda Aviles) leads a network involved in laundering the proceeds of fentanyl and other narcotics trafficking activities on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel. Jesus Gonzalez Penuelas (Gonzalez Penuelas), a fugitive from justice, heads a longstanding organization involved in trafficking illicit drugs into the United States and laundering funds for the Sinaloa Cartel. The violent Sinaloa Cartel is a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) responsible for a significant portion of the illicit fentanyl trafficked into the United States that kills tens of thousands of Americans each year.