The United States announced this Monday additional sanctions against “Los Chapitos,” a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel led by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, for fentanyl trafficking and increased the reward for each of the Mexican drug trafficker’s fugitive offspring. It also revealed a money laundering network run by “Los Chapitos” in Mazatlán.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed financial sanctions on a regional network of Los Chapitos based in Mazatlán (northwest) “that is engaged in drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, and money laundering,” the statement added.
This cell is allegedly led by Víctor Manuel Barraza Pablos and is financed by “Mexican businessman José Raúl Núñez Ríos,” whose wife, Sheila Paola Urías Vázquez, a makeup artist, “is also involved in the criminal network,” the US government accuses.
OFAC sanctions 10 of Núñez’s companies: Beach Y Marina; Club Playa Real; Proyecta Interna; Eco Campestres Ultra; IMB 24 Siete; MKT 24 Siete; Mue Renta y Venta de Vestidos, Carpe Diem Spa, Sea Wa Beach Club, and Comercializadora Copado.
As a result of the sanctions, all assets and shares of those sanctioned that are located in the United States or that are in the possession or control of Americans are frozen.
Washington also accuses the Sinaloa Cartel of the 2024 murder of former US Marine Nicholas Quets in Sonora, in northwestern Mexico.
Source: eluniversal
