The Workplace of Overseas Property Management (OFAC) of the US Division of the Treasury has added a crypto pockets allegedly linked to a serious worldwide crime syndicate to its checklist of Specifically Designated Nationals.
In a Sept. 26 announcement, the U.S. Treasury said it had sanctioned 10 people, together with many tied to the Sinaloa Cartel. Amongst these added was Mexican nationwide Mario Alberto Jimenez Castro by an Ethereum pockets.
‘[Jimenez Castro] stories on to a Chapitos deputy and operates a cash laundering group that makes use of digital forex and wire transfers, amongst different strategies, to switch proceeds from illicit fentanyl gross sales in the US to Sinaloa Cartel leaders in Mexico,” mentioned Treasury. “Jimenez Castro has directed U.S.-based couriers to choose up money in the US and deposit it into numerous digital forex wallets for cost on to the Chapitos and for reinvestment in fentanyl manufacturing.”
In line with knowledge from Etherscan, the pockets had a steadiness of roughly 0.018 Ether (ETH) — $28.22 — on the time of publication, with the most recent exercise greater than 200 days in the past. No different pockets addresses have been included in OFAC’s most up-to-date sanctions, which the Treasury mentioned have been in response to “illicit fentanyl trafficking” affecting the disaster surrounding opioid use in the US.
“Immediately’s actions present that Treasury and the Administration will proceed to relentlessly goal the prison enterprises threatening worldwide safety and flooding our communities with fentanyl and different lethal medication,” mentioned Brian Nelson, below secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and monetary intelligence.
Immediately, @USTreasury sanctioned 10 people, together with a number of Sinaloa Cartel associates and fugitives accountable for a good portion of the illicit fentanyl and different lethal medication trafficked into the US. https://t.co/eb5zLjmaEb
— Underneath Secretary Brian Nelson (@UnderSecTFI) September 26, 2023
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The sanctions adopted OFAC sanctioning individuals with ties to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. The U.S. Treasury additionally cited Lazarus as a part of its causes for adding crypto mixer Tornado Cash to its checklist of Specifically Designated Nationals in August 2022. U.S. authorities arrested Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm in August 2023 for fees associated to cash laundering and sanctions violations.
Many business leaders and policymakers criticized the Treasury’s actions in opposition to Twister Money. Six people backed by crypto change Coinbase filed a lawsuit in opposition to Treasury over the sanctions, however in August, a decide largely sided with the U.S. government in a movement for abstract judgment.
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