US Sanctions Top Mexican Drug Cartel Members, Issues Fentanyl Advisory for Banks

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen attends a roundtable with business leaders in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on April 5, 2024. (Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images)

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned eight Mexico-based men affiliated with La Nueva Familia Michoacana drug cartel for trafficking fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine into the United States, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced.

La Nueva Familia Michoacana, one of the most powerful and violent cartels in Mexico, also smuggles migrants from Mexico into the United States, according to a Treasury Department statement.

All property and interests in property of the eight men designated for sanctions that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.

The sanctions also prevent them from buying property in the United States.

Ms. Yellen made the announcement on June 20, alongside law enforcement officials in Atlanta. At the same time, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an advisory highlighting new information for U.S. banks and financial institutions to look for.

Banks are to make a Suspicious Activity Report to law enforcement if they see activity that indicates the purchase of chemicals or tools associated with making fentanyl.

“Treasury has unique capabilities and expertise to target the financial flows of these cartels who are poisoning our communities, and going after them is a top priority for me and the department,” Ms. Yellen said.

Over the past two years, the Treasury Department has sanctioned more than 250 targets for involvement in drug trafficking activities at all stages of the supply chain, from major cartel leaders to under-the-radar labs, transportation networks, and chemical suppliers, she said.

Global Trafficking

La Nueva Familia Michoacana buys chemicals and pill press machines to make fentanyl throughout Mexico, then sends fentanyl and other drugs to the United States through Nuevo Laredo and Tamaulipas/Reynosa into Texas on buses and other means of transportation, according to a Treasury Department statement.

Once in the United States, the drugs are sent to cities including Tulsa, Oklahoma; Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta; Houston; Dallas; and Chicago.

La Nueva Familia Michoacana also engages in human smuggling for a price, staging photos depicting people in danger of being murdered so people can falsely seek asylum in the United States, according to the Treasury Department.

The group also forces individuals to enter the United States illegally with drugs to be sold and threatens to murder their families if they don’t sell the drugs. Workers in the tobacco industry are often used to smuggle narcotics into the country, the Treasury said.

The Sanctioned

The sanctions arose from a collaboration between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia and in coordination with the Mexican government, including La Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera, Mexico’s financial intelligence unit.

The Treasury provided names and descriptions of the eight sanctioned men.

Rodolfo Maldonado Bustos is a member of La Nueva Familia Michoacana cartel and is next-in-line to Johnny Hurtado Olascoaga and José Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga, the two co-leaders, both of whom OFAC designated for sanctions in 2022. Mr. Bustos controls drug routes, according to the Treasury statement. On April 23, 2017, a grand jury in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia returned an indictment against Mr. Bustos on two counts of heroin conspiracy charges.

Josue Ramirez Carrera is a financial leader and third-in-line in La Nueva Familia Michoacana. Mr. Carrera allegedly controls the laundering of drug money for the cartel through a used clothing business and is involved in arms trafficking. The Treasury says he directs people along the Rio Grande Valley to conceal weapons in packs of used clothing destined for Mexico City.

Josue Lopez Hernández is a lieutenant for La Nueva Familia Michoacana and has significant regional connections with other cartels.

David Durán Alvarez is a lieutenant for La Nueva Familia Michoacana and is known to send various drugs to Houston, the Treasury said.

Uriel Tabares Martinez is an assassin, according to the Treasury statement, and he works directly for Mr. Johnny Hurtado Olascoaga and Mr. José Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga.

Kevin Arzate Gómez is a lieutenant for La Nueva Familia Michoacana and has contacts and associates along the U.S.–Mexico border. He negotiates on behalf of the cartel to have drugs enter the United States and allegedly assists in getting the money from those drug sales back to Mexico.

Euclides Camacho Goicochea works with Mr. Bustos and Mr. Martinez. He allegedly moves a significant amount of drugs, particularly methamphetamine, to Houston and Atlanta, among other areas. On Aug. 23, 2017, a grand jury in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia returned an indictment against Mr. Goicochea on two counts of heroin conspiracy charges and one count of money laundering.

Lucio Ochoa Lagunes is a lieutenant for La Nueva Familia Michoacana and allegedly works directly for Mr. José Hurtado Olascoaga.