The US Treasury accused three Mexican financial institutions on Wednesday of facilitating payments to China for fentanyl trafficking, as President Donald Trump intensifies a crackdown on illicit opioids.
The Treasury declared Mexican firms CIBanco, Intercam Banco and Vector Casa de Bolsa as being “of primary money laundering concern”, a finding that allows it to impose strict conditions on their access to the US financial system. They were hit as part of the first actions carried out by the Treasury’s financial crimes unit under new authorities created by recent anti-fentanyl legislation.
The Treasury said the three firms had played a “long-standing and vital role” in laundering millions of dollars on behalf of Mexican cartels and facilitating payments to procure precursor chemicals for fentanyl production.