Treasury Targets Cartel-Enabled Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Operations

WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning five Mexican individuals associated with the Gulf Cartel, one of Mexico’s most dangerous criminal organizations. Those designated today are tied to the Gulf Cartel’s involvement in criminal activities associated with illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, human smuggling, and narcotics trafficking in the Gulf of Mexico. IUU fishing often involves criminal activity, forced labor, and human rights abuses, and is often a revenue stream for criminal organizations. IUU fishing is also a threat to U.S. maritime security, as criminal organizations may use the same vessels for smuggling narcotics and humans across borders.“Today’s action highlights how transnational criminal organizations like the Gulf Cartel rely on a variety of illicit schemes like IUU fishing to fund their operations, along with narcotics trafficking and human smuggling,” said Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T.