LA Times Today: Case of ‘El Chapo' son cooperating with U.S. prosecutors roils Mexico
Patrick McDonnell is the L.A. Times Mexico City bureau chief and joined Lisa McRee.
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Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
U.S. Sanctions CJNG Cartel For $300M Timeshare Fraud Targeting Seniors
On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned four Mexican individuals and 13 companies linked to timeshare fraud schemes run by the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG). The action targets operations based in Puerto Vallarta that prey on elderly Americans. CJNG, designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, has expanded beyond drug trafficking to generate revenue through elaborate timeshare scams that have cost U.S. victims nearly $300 million since 2019. 'We are coming for terrorist drug cartels like Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion that are flooding our country with fentanyl,' said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. 'These cartels continue to create new ways to generate revenue to fuel their terrorist operations. At President Trump's direction, we will continue our effort to completely eradicate the cartels' ability to generate revenue, including their efforts to prey on elderly Americans through timeshare fraud.' The scams follow a devastating pattern. Cartel-run call centers obtain timeshare owner information from resort insiders, then contact victims claiming to be brokers or attorneys. They promise to sell timeshares or secure rental income but demand upfront 'fees' and 'taxes' that victims wire to Mexican bank accounts. The promised money supposedly owed to the owners never materializes, yet victims are pressed for additional payments. Some schemes stretch for years. Re-victimization scams follow, with fraudsters impersonating law firms offering to recover losses or government officials threatening imprisonment without payment of 'fines.' The FBI received nearly 900 timeshare fraud complaints in 2024 alone, reporting losses exceeding $50 million. Officials believe actual losses are far higher since most victims don't report due to embarrassment, among other reasons. CJNG seized control of Puerto Vallarta's timeshare fraud operations around 2012. The cartel employs English-fluent telemarketers and accountants to execute complex schemes targeting older Americans' life savings. Three senior CJNG members lead the fraud operations: Julio Cesar Montero Pinzon, Carlos Andres Rivera Varela, and Francisco Javier Gudino Haro. These men also orchestrate assassinations for the cartel's enforcement group using military-grade weapons. Michael Ibarra Diaz Jr., a Puerto Vallarta businessman with 20 years in the timeshare industry, was also sanctioned. His network includes 13 companies spanning real estate, travel agencies, tour operators, and accounting firms. Five companies explicitly acknowledge timeshare involvement: Akali Realtors, Centro Mediador De La Costa, Corporativo Integral De La Costa, Corporativo Costa Norte, and Sunmex Travel. Others mask their activities behind tourism and real estate fronts. The Treasury's action freezes all U.S. property belonging to the designated individuals and companies. American citizens are prohibited from conducting transactions with them. Financial institutions risk secondary sanctions for knowingly facilitating transactions with the sanctioned parties. The Treasury can prohibit foreign banks from maintaining U.S. correspondent accounts if they assist designated persons. This marks the Treasury's fifth action against CJNG timeshare fraud, bringing total designations to over 70 individuals and entities. Previous sanctions occurred in March 2023, April 2023, November 2023, and July 2024. CJNG ranks among the world's most powerful cartels. The group attacks Mexican military and police with military weapons, drops explosives from drones, and executes defiant recruits. Beyond drug trafficking, CJNG generates revenue through fuel theft, extortion, and human smuggling. Treasury continues targeting these diverse income streams alongside the FBI, DEA, and Mexican financial intelligence partners. Officials urge timeshare owners to exercise caution. Unsolicited purchase offers that seem too good to be true probably are fraudulent attempts to steal money. Victims should file complaints at Elderly victims can call the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-FRAUD-11 for assistance and resources. Solve the daily Crossword
The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
Trump's tariffs are forcing Canada to address its money laundering problem
On July 31, the Trump administration announced that it would raise tariffs on Canadian imports to 35 percent, citing Canada's failure to meaningfully address the growing use of its territory by fentanyl traffickers. Canada's response has been fractured. Federal officials called for renewed dialogue, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford demanded retaliatory tariffs. If that sounds like an overreaction from the U.S., it's not. It's a reaction to a real and mounting problem: Cartels are using Canada — not in theory, but in practice. Fentanyl super-labs have been discovered in British Columbia. Precursor chemicals from China are entering Canadian ports before making their way into domestic markets or rerouted across the U.S. border. The numbers are still small compared to the southern border. Fentanyl seizures along the northern corridor comprise less than 1 percent of total U.S. interdictions, but they're rising. And while the raw volume was low, the potency was not. According to White House estimates, the fentanyl seized from Canada in the past year was sufficient to kill more than 9 million Americans. The question isn't whether Canada is the dominant trafficking route. It's whether it's increasingly being utilized. And it is. The reason is structural. Canada has long been exploited by criminal networks due to regulatory blind spots, fragmented enforcement and opaque corporate formation laws. Canada is notorious for money-laundering through real estate. Trade-based money laundering schemes are commonly exploited. And bribery and corruption have long been identified as a substantial money-laundering risk. Canada, for too long, has treated organized crime as a localized public safety issue, not a transnational finance and border security risk. The Trump administration's tariff spike isn't just a trade war headline. It's part of a broader strategy of nation-level accountability. Venezuela's Cartel de los Soles, a state-embedded trafficking network directly linked to the Maduro regime, was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity under expanded fentanyl authorities just days before the action against Canada. Mexico has not been spared, either. In February, the U.S. imposed 25 percent fentanyl-linked tariffs on Mexican imports, citing the government's failure to curb cartel flows. In July, those tariffs were scheduled to increase to 30 percent. Although Mexico negotiated a temporary reprieve, committing additional National Guard resources to its northern border in February, the escalation framework remains in place. The goal is not symbolic but structural. Pressure the sovereign, disrupt the enabler. Canada now finds itself in that same pressure chamber. Unlike Venezuela, it is a U.S. ally and a U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement partner. But those relationships don't exempt governments from consequences. Canada's fentanyl enforcement effort has been reactive, fragmented and, until very recently, deeply under-resourced. That posture changed the moment the 35 percent tariff went live. To its credit, Ottawa has shown that it is willing to act with urgency. The newly announced border security initiative includes enhanced lab detection infrastructure, dual-nation strike teams and an aggressive crackdown on shell entities used to obscure cross-border fund flows. These moves are overdue. In 2024, Canada's two largest banks, Royal Bank of Canada and TD Bank, were at the center of major anti-money laundering failures. Royal Bank of Canada's U.S. subsidiary, City National Bank, was fined $65 million for violating the Bank Secrecy Act, while TD admitted in U.S. federal court to allowing over $650 million in suspected fentanyl proceeds to flow through its accounts. TD paid a $3 billion penalty and agreed to oversight by a government-appointed monitor. Regulators called the sector's anti-money laundering risk ' under-appreciated,' exposing deep structural gaps that persisted until the failures became too large to ignore. None of this is partisan. None of this is rhetorical. It is structural enforcement built around financial leverage, and it reflects a doctrine that has quietly reshaped the American approach to trafficking: Drug routes are no longer just a law enforcement issue. They are a sovereign accountability issue. The tools of response — tariffs, sanctions, financial denial mechanisms — reflect that shift. Canada's economy isn't the target. Its vulnerabilities are. But if they remain unaddressed, the economic impact will be severe. Trade penalties will expand. Correspondent banks will de-risk. Investment flows will hesitate. And trust — financial, diplomatic and regulatory — will erode. The Canadian government has a narrow window to solidify enforcement credibility. That means closing anti-money laundering loopholes, coordinating proactively with U.S. agencies, and enacting a serious national strategy against transnational organized crime. Not just speeches. Not just appointees. Results. Because fentanyl isn't waiting. Neither are the traffickers. And neither, apparently, is the Trump administration.
Miami Herald
5 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Trump's plan to hit Mexico's drug cartels will only make them more popular
President Trump's reported secret order to develop military options for a cross-border intervention against Mexico's drug cartels could backfire spectacularly. Instead of keeping drugs out of your neighborhood, it could actually make the cartels more popular at home and even more powerful. Even some of Trump's toughest former advisers admit it — a solo U.S. invasion or drone attack without Mexico's green light would be a dumb idea. It would spark a wave of nationalism south of the border and likely push Mexico's government to ditch anti-narcotics and migration deals with Washington. John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser and hardly a dove, didn't mince words when I interviewed him recently. A U.S. attack on Mexico's cartels 'doesn't make any sense at all,' he told me. Bolton told me there's no question Mexico's drug cartels are a problem and something needs to be done about them. But believing that the United States can fix things militarily, without Mexico onboard, is a fantasy. If anything, 'it will make things worse,' he told me. Trump has reportedly sent a secret directive to the Pentagon asking for options to attack Latin American drug cartels that the U.S. has branded as terrorist organizations, The New York Times and NBC News reported on Aug. 8. U.S. officials said later that Trump is considering all options, although no decision has been made. U.S. officials say the president is just weighing his options for now but nothing's set in stone. I wouldn't be shocked if all this talk about military action was a White House leak intended to nudge Mexico into okaying a military attack and spinning it publicly as a joint operation. But if Trump decided to go it alone, here's why that could blow up in his face. First, as Bolton told me, such a move could actually boost the cartels' popularity in Mexico. Drug traffickers bankroll many people in rural communities, essentially buying local support and protection. Musicians belt out ballads— 'narco-corridos'—in their honor. A U.S. attack might just gain them even more support. Second, a unilateral U.S. attack would trigger a nationalistic reaction across Mexico. President Claudia Sheinbaum would be under serious pressure to scrap key anti-drug and migration deals with the United States. Sheinbaum has already stepped up fentanyl seizures and border checks in response to U.S. pressure in recent months. But she has drawn a hard line: unilateral U.S. military action is 'absolutely ruled out,' she said. Third, and maybe the biggest issue, a U.S. military strike on a Mexican drug lab would do little to slow down the drug trade. As long as the U.S. remains a giant, illegal-drug-consuming country, the flow of illicit narcotics will continue. Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a director of George Mason University's Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center, told me Trump is following a mistaken diagnosis. Fixating just on foreign cartels ignores the bigger picture. Without tackling both supply and demand — meaning more drug prevention at home — the problem will stick around, she said. Even if you kill some cartel bosses, drug trafficking rings will split into more cells and continue operating. They are networks that adapt and survive. 'The cartels aren't vertical structures anymore, like in the days of [Colombia's drug baron] Pablo Escobar,' she told me. Odds are, Trump's secret order to the Pentagon was just him asking for every possible option. But I wouldn't be surprised if, down the road, he decides to order a strike against Mexico. Trump is a master of distraction. One of his trademarks is being very good at shifting the spotlight. If the U.S. economy sours because of his tariffs, or if the political scandal over late financier Jeffrey Epstein's files grows, Trump could be tempted to launch a military attack. It would certainly make huge headlines. Many in his nationalist, anti-immigrant base would cheer him on, even if the end result is stronger cartels and less safety here at home. Don't miss the 'Oppenheimer Presenta' TV show on Sundays at 9 pm E.T. on CNN en Español. Blog:
