The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the United States Department of the Treasury (FinCEN) issued orders identifying three financial institutions based in Mexico: CIBanco SA, Institución de Banca Múltiple (CIBanco), Intercam Banco SA, Institución de Banca Múltiple (Intercam) and Vector Casa de Bolsa, SA de CV (Vector), as “a major money laundering concern in relation to illicit opioid trafficking”.
Likewise, the US Government prohibited, respectively, certain fund transfers involving CIBanco, Intercam and Vector.
CIBanco and Intercam, commercial banks with more than $ 7 billion and $ 4 billion in total assets, respectively, and Vector, a brokerage firm that manages nearly $ 11 billion in assets, he noted, They have collectively played a vital and long-standing role in laundering millions of dollars on behalf of cartels based in Mexico and in facilitating payments for the acquisition of chemical precursors necessary to produce fentanyl.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted that financial companies such as CIBanco, Intercam and Vector are facilitating the poisoning of countless Americans by transferring money on behalf of cartels, making them key players in the supply chain of fentanyl.
“Through the first use of this powerful authority, today’s actions reaffirm the Treasury’s commitment to use all the tools at our disposal to counter the threat posed by criminal and terrorist organizations that traffic in fentanyl and other narcotics”, FinCEN added.
As established in the order, he added, FinCEN determined that CIBanco, a foreign financial institution operating outside the United States, is one of the main money laundering concerns in relation to illicit opioid trafficking, due to its deep-rooted pattern of associations, transactions and provision of financial services that facilitate the illicit trafficking of opioids by cartels based in Mexico, such as the Beltrán Leyva Cartel, the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel and the Gulf Cartel.
He stated that CIBanco has also facilitated the acquisition of chemical precursors from China for illicit purposes.
He highlighted that in 2023, a CIBanco employee knowingly facilitated the creation of an account to allegedly launder $10 million on behalf of a member of the Gulf Cartel.
Between 2021 and 2024, he added, CIBanco processed more than $2.1 million in payments on behalf of Mexico-based companies to China-based companies that sent precursor chemicals to Mexico for illicit purposes.
”As established in the order, FinCEN determined that Intercam, a financial institution operating outside the United States, is a major money laundering concern in relation to illicit opioid trafficking, due to its deep-rooted pattern of partnerships, transactions and provision of financial services that facilitate the illicit trafficking of opioids by cartels based in Mexico, including the CJNG. Intercam has also processed fund transfers in US dollars that finance the acquisition of chemical precursors from China on behalf of illicit drug trafficking organizations”, he stressed.
In this case, he noted that at the end of 2022, Intercam executives met directly with alleged members of the CJNG to discuss money laundering schemes, including fund transfers from China.
He added that between 2021 and 2024, a China-based company associated with an individual who shipped chemical precursors from China to Mexico for illicit purposes received more than $1.5 million from Mexico-based companies through Intercam.
”As established in the order, FinCEN determined that Vector, a financial institution operating outside the United States, is one of the main money laundering concerns in relation to illicit opioid trafficking, because it facilitates the money laundering activities of Mexico-based cartels, including the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel. Vector has also facilitated the acquisition of chemical precursors from China for illicit purposes”, he said.
For example, from 2013 to 2021, he added, a person from the Sinaloa Cartel used various methods to launder 2 million dollars from the United States to Mexico through Vector.
Additionally, he continued, the order describes how, from 2018 to 2023, Vector was found to have made payments of more than $1 million on behalf of companies based in Mexico to companies based in China, known to have shipped precursor chemicals to Mexico for illicit purposes. These payments illustrate significant deficiencies in Vector’s AML/CFT controls.
”Fighting drug cartels and stopping the flow of lethal drugs into the United States is one of the Trump Administration’s top priorities. In January 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order that created a process by which certain cartels and other organizations would be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (OTEs) and/or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (TGEDs)”, he emphasized.
”Accordingly, in February, the US Departments of the Treasury and State designated eight organizations, including six major drug cartels based in Mexico, as OTE and TGED, including the CJNG, the Gulf Cartel and the Cartel. from Sinaloa. Today’s actions complement these designations, as a further step to deny access to the US financial system to individuals and entities associated with the cartels”, he added.
”As described in the FinCEN orders, the financial institutions contemplated are prohibited from making transfers of funds to or from CIBanco, Intercam or Vector, or from or to any account or address of convertible virtual currency administered by or on behalf of CIBanco, Intercam or Vector. These prohibitions take effect 21 days after their publication in the Federal Register ”, the Treasury Department concluded.
