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Treasury Sanctions Five Businesses Supporting Cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generacion

(Archived Content)



WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated five Mexican businesses as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act).  These entities provide financial support to and are controlled by Mexico’s Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), which OFAC designated earlier this year due to CJNG’s significant role in international narcotics trafficking.  As a result of today’s action, any assets these businesses may have under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.
 
“CJNG has used widespread violence and corruption to become one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in Mexico,” said John E. Smith, Acting Director of OFAC.  “The variety of businesses designated today demonstrates the extent to which CJNG has penetrated the economy, both locally and beyond.  OFAC and its partners, including the Drug Enforcement Administration and Mexican authorities, are determined to expose and disrupt anyone supporting CJNG.”  
  
The five businesses designated today for providing financial support to the drug trafficking activities of CJNG are all located in the Mexican state of Jalisco, of which Guadalajara is the capital.  Mizu Sushi Lounge is a restaurant with locations in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara.  Onze Black is a tequila business with offices in Guadalajara.  Las Flores Cabanas is a cabin rental business located in Tapalpa, Jalisco.  J & P Advertising and JJGON, an advertising company and an agricultural company, respectively, are both located in Guadalajara.   
 
On April 8, 2015, OFAC designated the CJNG, its close ally the Los Cuinis Drug Trafficking Organization, and their respective leaders and brothers-in-law, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes (a.k.a. “Mencho”) and Abigael Gonzalez Valencia.  Based on a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation in Los Angeles, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia indicted them in March 2014 on several charges, including being the principal leaders of a Continuing Criminal Enterprise.  Gonzalez Valencia was captured in Mexico in late February 2015, but Oseguera Cervantes remains a fugitive.
 
OFAC and the DEA Los Angeles Field Division worked closely to execute today’s action. 
 
Since June 2000, more than 1,800 entities and individuals have been named pursuant to the Kingpin Act for their role in international narcotics trafficking.  Penalties for violations of the Kingpin Act range from civil penalties of up to $1.075 million per violation to more severe criminal penalties.  Criminal penalties for corporate officers may include up to 30 years in prison and fines of up to $5 million.  Criminal fines for corporations may reach $10 million.  Other individuals could face up to 10 years in prison and fines pursuant to Title 18 of the United States Code for criminal violations of the Kingpin Act.
 
For a chart relating to today’s actions click here.
 
For identifying information on the individuals and entities designated today, click here. 
 
For a complete listing of designations pursuant to the Kingpin Act, click here.
 
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