Treasury Sanctions Cartel-Linked Casinos and Key Associates on U.S.-Mexico Border

Cartel del Noreste Exerts Influence Around Laredo, Texas Port of EntryWASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned six targets involved in a money laundering and cash smuggling enterprise operated by Cartel del Noreste (CDN), one of Mexico’s most violent drug trafficking organizations. CDN is a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) that exerts significant influence along the U.S.-Mexico border near Laredo, Texas, the busiest land port of entry on the southern border. The three individuals designated today play central roles in advancing CDN’s criminal dominance over the Nuevo Laredo plaza in Tamaulipas, Mexico, supporting the cartel’s broader illicit operations, which include fentanyl trafficking, human smuggling, money laundering, and extortion. Today’s action also targets two CDN-affiliated casinos, one of which is located just two miles from the U.S. border.