By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
FINCEN, the Treasury’s AML unit, has issued a new alert warning US banks of red flags for fuel smuggling and tax evasion linked to Mexico’s notorious CJNG cartel.
The alert provides an overview of methodologies and financial typologies associated with these schemes. It also highlights red flag indicators.
In tandem, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) blacklisted two Mexican individuals and nine corporate entities accused of facilitating fuel smuggling.
The Treasury said they are “tied to a CJNG-linked fuel theft scheme to evade Mexican taxes while generating tens of millions of dollars annually for the cartel”.
It added that this involved “cross-border smuggling, falsified customs documents, and shell companies”.
FinCEN’s alert provides guidance on “financial typologies and red flags indicative of CJNG”. It also covers “other Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) smuggling fuel from the U.S. into Mexico in schemes involving Mexican tax evasion”.
The full alert is available [HERE].
Scott Bessent, the Secretary of the Treasury, said the crackdown highlights “the extent to which Mexico’s cartels are expanding beyond traditional drug trafficking”.
“[They] ontinue to traffic deadly drugs that kill Americans,” he said.
“Treasury’s actions targeting these illicit revenue streams advance the Trump Administration’s priority of dismantling these terrorist organizations.”
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