The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted two high-ranking members of the Mexican drug cartel, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Rodolfo Maldonado-Bustos and Euclides Camacho-Goicochea, on charges of conspiracy to distribute and import heroin into the United States.
The announcement, made on June 21, 2024, revealed that the cartel leaders allegedly used cryptocurrency to mask their illicit financial activities.
Mexico-Based Drug Cartel Leaders Indicted and Sanctioned
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— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) June 20, 2024
Camacho-Goicochea, in particular, was accused of spearheading the use of digital currencies to facilitate the transfer and laundering of drug proceeds, allowing the cartel to move large sums of money anonymously and bypass traditional financial systems.
According to the DOJ, the charges were a result of a multi-agency investigation, which began in 2016, and it uncovered a sophisticated operation importing massive quantities of heroin into the U.S., particularly to the Atlanta area.
The agency noted that its partner agencies, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), successfully tracked the cartel’s digital transactions despite using digital currencies. They claimed that agencies were able to seize over $580,000 in cash and assets in the Atlanta area in early 2017.
In addition to the criminal charges, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) has imposed financial sanctions on both Maldonado-Bustos and Camacho-Goicochea, freezing their U.S. assets and prohibiting transactions with U.S. entities.
In the DOJ’s announcement, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland emphasized the government’s commitment to disrupting cartel operations by targeting their profits. In his words:
“These actions demonstrate that in addition to holding cartel leaders accountable for their crimes, we are working together with our partners at the Treasury Department to hit the cartels’ criminal operations where it hurts the most – their profits.“
However, the DOJ’s announcement has sparked mixed reactions on social media, with some expressing scepticism about the effectiveness of these sanctions, the focus on foreign cartels, and the overall impact of the DOJ’s actions.
The DOJ maintained that these actions are crucial steps in dismantling the financial infrastructure of international drug trafficking organizations and reducing the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.
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