OFAC Sanctions Dominican Republic Drug Trafficking Organization
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a Dominican Republic-based drug trafficking organization, its owner, supporters and several businesses run by the organization’s owner, Treasury said in an Aug. 20 press release. The sanctions include designations under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act against the Peralta Drug Trafficking Organization, Dominican national Cesar Emilio Peralta, and eight more Dominican nationals for supporting the organization and nightclubs owned by Peralta.
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.
Treasury said Peralta is a drug kingpin who coordinates “the transshipment of ton-quantities of cocaine and significant quantities of opioids” through the Dominican Republic from his base in Santo Domingo. The drugs are shipped to the U.S., Puerto Rico and Europe, Treasury said. Peralta and his organization transfer the revenue from the U.S. drug sales to the Dominican Republic and filter them through his money-laundering nightclubs, the press release said. The nightclubs include VIP Room, Flow Gallery Lounge, Aqua Club and La Kuora.
The sanctions also target Ramon Antonio del Rosario Puente and Kelvin Enrique Fernandez Flaquer for supporting Peralta’s organization and Yader Rafael Jaquez Araujo and Carlos Ariel Fernandez Concepcion for working with the nightclubs. Other sanctioned people include Dominican nationals Natanael Castro Cordero, Boarnerges Sanchez Nolasco, Jhonan Alexander Martinez Urena and Bernardo Antonio Valdez Garcia.