Treasury Department Freezes Assets, Prohibits Transactions for Mexican Drug Mogul Affiliates
The Treasury Department prohibited on Aug. 22 U.S. citizens from conducting financial or commercial transactions with five affiliates of Esparragoza Moreno, considered by the U.S. government to be a leader of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel. The department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also froze U.S. assets for Angello de Jesus Solis Aviles, Mario Parra Sanchez, Manuel Arturo Valdez Rodriguez, Juan Carlos Villegas Loera, and Vanessa Valenzuela Valenzuela.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
According to the Treasury Department, Moreno is wanted in both the U.S. and Mexico. He was indicted on drug trafficking charges in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in 2003. The department said the five designees renamed the following companies in order to evade sanctions:
- Combuservicios Los Tres Rios, S.A. de C.V. (previously Estaciones de Servicios Canarias, S.A. de C.V.);
- Gasolinera El Crucero Las Torres, S.A. de C.V. (previously Servicios Chulavista, S.A. de C.V.);
- Gasolinera La Canada, S.A. de C.V. (previously Gasodiesel y Servicios Ancona, S.A. de C.V.);
- Gasolineras La Villa, S.A. de C.V. (previously Gasolinera y Servicios Villabonita, S.A. de C.V.);
- Gasolinera Multilomas, S.A. de C.V. (previously Buenos Aires Servicios, S.A. de C.V.);
- Gasolinera Recursos Hidraulicos, S.A. de C.V. (previously Gasolinera Alamos Country, S.A. de C.V.)
- Servicios y Gasolineras Barrancos, S.A. de C.V. (previously Petrobarrancos, S.A. de C.V.)