Latest news with #VectorCasaDeBolsa
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
US Accuses Three Mexican Financial Firms of Aiding Fentanyl Trafficking
(Bloomberg) -- The US government identified three Mexican financial firms for potentially laundering proceeds from illicit drug trafficking, effectively choking them off from the US financial system as it seeks to clamp down on cartels. Bezos Wedding Draws Protests, Soul-Searching Over Tourism in Venice US Renters Face Storm of Rising Costs US State Budget Wounds Intensify From Trump, DOGE Policy Shifts Commuters Are Caught in Johannesburg's Taxi Feuds as Transit Lags Mapping the Architectural History of New York's Chinatown The US Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, said CIBanco SA, Intercam Banco SA and brokerage Vector Casa de Bolsa SA are all 'of primary money laundering concern,' according to a statement Wednesday. The orders prohibit certain transmissions of funds involving those firms. 'Financial facilitators like CIBanco, Intercam, and Vector are enabling the poisoning of countless Americans by moving money on behalf of cartels, making them vital cogs in the fentanyl supply chain,' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement. He vowed to use 'all tools at our disposal to counter the threat posed by criminal and terrorist organizations trafficking fentanyl and other narcotics.' Vector 'categorically' rejected US authorities' claims in a statement, saying it has been operating in line with the highest regulatory standards. 'The transactions reported correspond to ordinary transactions with legally established companies,' Vector said. Local media reports indicate that Vector is owned by Alfonso Romo, a multimillionaire businessman who served as chief staff to former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador early in his term and was the leftist populist's main link with the Mexican business community. Mexico's Finance Minister Édgar Amador Zamora also worked at Vector, according to his profile on the government's website. Intercam also issued a statement saying it 'categorically denies any involvement of this institution in any illicit practices, particularly money laundering, and we reiterate our commitment to transparency and legality.' CIBanco said it 'does not maintain links with activities outside the law' and complies with all regulations. After review by Mexican authorities, 'no elements can be identified that compromise CIBanco's operation or actions,' it said in a statement. FinCEN said the designations are its first under the Fentanyl Sanctions Act and the Fend Off Fentanyl Act, which give Treasury extra power to target money laundering tied to the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, including by cartels. Still, the moves fall short of stronger sanctions that the Office of Foreign Assets Control can impose which bar any business dealings with designated firms and individuals. US officials are ramping up efforts to tackle cartel finances following their designation by President Donald Trump as terrorist groups, giving his officials an array of charges and sanctions to crack down on the groups. The terrorist label, along with a more aggressive stance by the US Department of Justice toward cartels, has put bankers on edge and escalated regulatory risks for financial institutions with duties to spot illicit money flows. The three Mexican institutions 'have collectively played a longstanding and vital role in laundering millions of dollars on behalf of Mexico based cartels and facilitating payments for the procurement of precursor chemicals needed to produce fentanyl,' Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender said during a call with media. Mexico's Finance Ministry said in a statement it had asked US authorities for evidence against the firms, but that it didn't provide any proof. Mexico's regulator is conducting a review of the three firms in question, it said. 'We want to be clear: If we have conclusive information proving illicit activities by these three financial institutions, we will act to the full extent of the law,' the Finance Ministry said. 'However, to date, we have no information in this regard.' Cartel Finance CIBanco, a commercial bank with about $7 billion in assets at the end of last year, provided financial services that helped cartels including the Beltran-Leyva cartel, the Jalisco New Generation cartel and the Gulf Cartel traffic opioids, according to FinCEN. In one example, an employee for the bank knowingly helped create an account to launder $10 million for a Gulf cartel member, FinCEN said. CIBanco was also instrumental in facilitating payments for Mexico-based companies to procure precursor chemicals, FinCEN said in its separate order against the lender. It listed hundreds of wire transfers totaling millions of dollars that were sent through CIBanco to companies in countries including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Switzerland and China to pay for those chemicals. Intercam, with about $4 billion of assets, also provided financial services that helped Mexican cartels traffic opioids, FinCEN said. It detailed more than 1,000 fund transfers made through the firm to shipping companies in countries including Singapore and Hong Kong that were known to have shipped precursor chemicals to Mexico, it said. Intercam has a fraud policy on its website where it states it recognizes the 'significant threat' of corruption and internal fraud. It's committed 'to taking proactive measures to avoid, detect and adequately respond to any internal fraudulent activity,' according to its website. Both banks are relatively small within Mexico. CIBanco is the country's 20th largest financial institution, meaning the impact of prohibiting certain fund transmissions will be negligible, according to FinCEN. All three financial institutions are closely held. Shares of publicly traded Mexican banks were little changed on the news, and the peso held its gains against the dollar, suggesting that the moves weren't seen by investors as a serious threat to Mexican financial markets. Precursor Chemicals For its part, Vector helped facilitate money laundering by cartels including the Sinaloa Cartel and Gulf Cartel, according to FinCEN. The firm with about $11 billion of assets also helped procure precursor chemicals from China for illicit purposes, it said. FinCEN highlighted an example where a Sinaloa Cartel money mule 'employed various methods to launder $2 million from the United States to Mexico through Vector.' Vector also allegedly handled some $40 million in transactions tied to Genaro Garcia Luna, a former top Mexican security official convicted in the US for taking bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel. 'Under President Trump, the Treasury Department has taken and will continue to take historic action to ensure that cartels and drug traffickers cannot abuse the US dollar to launder drug money and profit off the poisoning of Americans,' Faulkender said on the call with media. --With assistance from Carolina Millan and Andrea Navarro. (Updates with CIBanco comment in seventh paragraph.) Inside Gap's Last-Ditch, Tariff-Addled Turnaround Push How to Steal a House Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags Apple Test-Drives Big-Screen Movie Strategy With F1 Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. 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ABC News
6 hours ago
- Business
- ABC News
US sanctions Mexican banks for allegedly laundering money for drug cartels
The US Treasury has slapped three Mexican financial institutions with sanctions, accusing them of laundering millions of dollars for cartels that are furthering the distribution of fentanyl into the US. It is a move, under the Trump administration's new fentanyl sanctions authority, that officials say will block certain money transfers between the sanctioned banks and US banks. The banks, CIBanco and Intercam Banco, as well as brokerage Vector Casa de Bolsa, "have collectively played a longstanding and vital role in laundering millions of dollars on behalf of Mexico-based cartels" US deputy Treasury secretary Michael Faulkender told reporters on Wednesday, local time. He added the financial institutions were "facilitating payments for the procurement of precursor chemicals needed to produce fentanyl" and would now be "effectively cut off" from doing business with US financial institutions. While the sanctions do not block property or cut off all global US dollar-based activities, as other Treasury sanctions have, they do prohibit US transactions with their locations in Mexico, a US Treasury official noted. Although US sanctions against individuals and companies for links to Mexican organised crime groups are fairly frequent, measures against financial institutions are far less common. The Mexican Finance Ministry said in a statement it was notified of the investigation and asked the US Treasury for evidence of illicit activity links to CIBanco, Intercam and Vector, but it received no "conclusive information". Vector categorically rejected "any accusation that compromises its institutional integrity", it said in a statement. It added that it reiterated its full willingness to collaborate with Mexican and US authorities to clarify the situation. Intercam similarly "categorically" denied "any connection between this institution and any illicit practice". CIBanco did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Experts said the move, although targeting relatively small institutions, could have significant impact on Mexico's financial system given the interconnectedness with the United States. Luis Manuel Perez de Acha, a tax lawyer and money laundering expert in Mexico City, said the accusations were a "bombshell". "The entire financial system passes through the United States, so they are practically left without operations," he said. Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a specialist on organised crime, said the sanctions were "enormously impactful". "This is a bold move. Being cut off from the US financial system is a death blow," she told Reuters. "These are hardly the biggest banks in Mexico, but they are not small entities." "These are medium-level banks," Ms Felbab-Brown said. However, she said the sanctions were unlikely to "make any kind of dent in the financial flows of Mexican criminal groups". According to the Treasury orders, CIBanco helped facilitate money laundering for a number of cartels, including the Jalisco New Generation, Beltran Leyva and Gulf. Officials said the bank "facilitated procurement" of chemicals used to make fentanyl from China by processing over $US2.1 million in payments for the materials. Vector was accused of facilitating money laundering for the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels, including $US1 million in payments for fentanyl chemicals. The Treasury officials also said the Sinaloa Cartel used Vector to send bribes to former Mexican security secretary Genaro García Luna, who in October was sentenced to more than 38 years in prison by a New York court for the charges. They estimated that transactions exceeded $US40 million. The Trump administration has announced it is cracking down on Mexican cartels and fentanyl trafficking despite movement of the drug along the US border and overdoses within the country declining. AP/Reuters
Washington Post
6 hours ago
- Business
- Washington Post
U.S. ties 3 Mexican financial institutions to fentanyl trafficking
MEXICO CITY — The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday accused three Mexican financial institutions of moving money for opioid traffickers and handling payments for cartels seeking imported chemicals to make fentanyl. The department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, identified CIBanco S.A., Intercam Banco S.A. and Vector Casa de Bolsa as being 'of primary money laundering concern' in connection with opioid trafficking.
Al Jazeera
7 hours ago
- Business
- Al Jazeera
US sanctions Mexican banks, alleging connections to cartel money laundering
The United States has imposed sanctions on three Mexican banks, alleging they had been used to launder money for drug cartels. On Wednesday, the US Department of the Treasury tied the banks – CIBanco, Intercam Banco and Vector Casa de Bolsa – to the cross-border trafficking of the deadly synthetic drug fentanyl. It accused them of playing 'a longstanding and vital role in laundering millions of dollars on behalf of Mexico-based cartels and facilitating payments for the procurement of precursor chemicals needed to produce fentanyl'. The sanctions are part of a wider pressure campaign by the administration of US President Donald Trump against Latin American gangs, criminal networks and drug traffickers. That campaign has included designating several groups as 'foreign terrorist organisations' and using tariffs to pressure Mexico's government to increase enforcement of irregular traffic across the border. In a statement, the Treasury Department said the banks were the first to be targeted under new pieces of legislation – the Fentanyl Sanctions Act and the FEND Off Fentanyl Act – passed to expand its ability to target money laundering related to opioid trafficking. The sanctions would block transfers between the targeted Mexican banks and US banks, although it was not immediately clear how far-reaching the limits would be. In a statement, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent accused the banks of 'enabling the poisoning of countless Americans by moving money on behalf of cartels, making them vital cogs in the fentanyl supply chain'. But Mexico's Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit responded to the sanctions by saying it had yet to receive conclusive evidence justifying them. 'We want to be clear: If we have conclusive information proving illicit activities by these three financial institutions, we will act to the fullest extent of the law,' the Finance Ministry said. 'However, to date, we have no information in this regard.' CIBanco did not immediately respond to the allegations. The US Treasury Department accused it of being connected to money laundering by the Beltran-Leyva Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Gulf Cartel. Intercam, which is also accused of having connections to the CJNG cartel, also did not respond. Meanwhile, the brokerage firm Vector, which was linked to money laundering by the Sinaloa Cartel and Gulf Cartel, said the US claims tying its operations to drug traffickers were false. 'Vector categorically rejects any accusation that compromises its institutional integrity,' the company said in a statement, adding that it would cooperate to clarify the situation.
CTV News
9 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
U.S. blocks money transfers by 3 Mexico-based financial institutions accused of aiding cartels
MEXICO CITY — The U.S. Treasury Department slapped sanctions Wednesday on three Mexico-based financial institutions it said were used to launder millions of dollars for cartels, in a move officials say would block certain money transfers between the sanctioned banks and U.S. banks. The orders issued on the banks CIBanco and Intercam Banco, as well as brokerage Vector Casa de Bolsa, are part of an ongoing push by U.S. and Mexican authorities under pressure by U.S. President Donald Trump to crack down on Mexican cartels that traffic fentanyl. The banks 'have collectively played a long-standing and vital role in laundering millions of dollars on behalf of Mexico-based cartels and facilitating payments for the procurement of precursor chemicals needed to produce fentanyl,' Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender told reporters on Wednesday. Faulkender said the measures would 'effectively cut off' the bank branches from doing business with U.S. financial institutions. The orders would also sanction 31 people connected to the banks. The three financial institutions did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It was not immediately clear, however, how far-reaching the effects would actually be. When asked by reporters, Treasury officials did not confirm nor provide details about specific transfers between the Mexico-based banks and U.S. banks, but said there were 'touch points' between the institutions. Officials also did not rule out the possibility of foreign branches of the banks outside of Mexico being able to continue to do business with U.S. banks. According to the Treasury orders, CIBanco helped facilitate money laundering for a number of cartels, including the Jalisco New Generation, Beltran Leyva and Gulf. Officials said the bank 'facilitated procurement' of chemicals used to make fentanyl from China, by processing over US$2.1 million in payments for the materials. Vector was accused of facilitating money laundering for the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels, including $1 million in payments for fentanyl chemicals. The Treasury officials also said that Vector was used by the Sinaloa Cartel to send bribes to former Mexican Security Secretary Genaro García Luna, who was sentenced to more than 38 years in prison by a New York court in October for the charges. They estimated that transactions exceeded $40 million. Intercam faced similar charges, and was accused of passing through transfers of $1.5 million in payments for chemicals used to produce fentanyl from China. The orders were just the latest actions by the Trump administration, which has announced it was cracking down on Mexican cartels and fentanyl trafficking, despite movement of the drug along the border and overdoses within the U.S. already being on the decline. This year, the administration also declared many of those cartels Foreign Terrorist Organizations and has sanctioned a number of Mexican officials. Megan Janetsky, The Associated Press
