FinCEN Bars Mexican Banks for Opioid-Related Money Laundering
FinCEN designated three Mexican banks as financial institutions of "primary money laundering concern" for facilitating transactions tied to the trafficking of synthetic opioids, including fentanyl.
The FinCEN Orders were taken under new authority granted by the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, a law "target[ing] money laundering associated with the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, including by cartels."
According to FinCEN (See Order 1, Order 2 and Order 3), the banks provided financial services to drug trafficking organizations ("DTOs"). FinCEN said it identified over $100 million in transactions that likely facilitated the trafficking of illicit opioids. FinCEN found that some of these funds were used to purchase chemicals like dimethyl carbonate and hydroxylamine hydrochloride, ingredients in synthetic opioid manufacturing.
FinCEN said the banks exhibited a pattern of behavior involving:
-
use of shell companies and front businesses to disguise the origin and purpose of international wire transfers;
-
millions of dollars in payments from bank clients to chemical suppliers in China, Taiwan, and Switzerland, assessed to be tied to fentanyl production;
-
hundreds of wire transfers over several years involving suspected DTO intermediaries;
-
at least one case where a bank employee knowingly helped set up an account to launder $10 million on behalf of a Gulf Cartel operative.
The three banks are now cut off from all US correspondent banking relationships and can no longer access US dollars through American financial institutions.
FinCEN said that these Orders mark the first time FinCEN used its authority under the FEND Off Fentanyl Act to impose a restriction. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stated that, "Through the first use of this powerful authority, today’s actions affirm Treasury’s commitment to using all tools at our disposal to counter the threat posed by criminal and terrorist organizations trafficking fentanyl and other narcotics."