The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury has added a crypto wallet allegedly connected to a major international crime syndicate to its list of Specially Designated Nationals.<\/p>\n
In a Sept. 26 announcement, the U.S. Treasury said it had sanctioned 10 individuals, including many tied to the Sinaloa Cartel. Among those added was\u00a0Mexican national Mario Alberto Jimenez Castro through an Ethereum wallet. <\/p>\n
\u2018[Jimenez Castro] reports directly to a Chapitos deputy and operates a money laundering organization that uses virtual currency and wire transfers, among other methods, to transfer proceeds from illicit fentanyl sales in the United States to Sinaloa Cartel leaders in Mexico,\u201d said Treasury. \u201cJimenez Castro has directed U.S.-based couriers to pick up cash in the United States and deposit it into various virtual currency wallets for payment directly to the Chapitos and for reinvestment in fentanyl production.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to data from Etherscan, the wallet had a balance of roughly 0.018 Ether (ETH) \u2014 $28.22 \u2014 at the time of publication, with the latest activity more than 200 days ago. No other wallet addresses were included in OFAC\u2019s most recent sanctions, which the Treasury said were in response to \u201cillicit fentanyl trafficking\u201d affecting the crisis surrounding opioid use in the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s actions show that Treasury and the Administration will continue to relentlessly target the criminal enterprises threatening international security and flooding our communities with fentanyl and other deadly drugs,\u201d said Brian Nelson, under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.<\/p>\n