WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department has launched a sweeping crackdown on the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, widely regarded as Mexico’s most powerful criminal organization, through a new round of sanctions and a financial warning system for banks.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control moved to sanction two Mexican men along with nine companies operating in transportation, financial services, and real estate. All are accused of ties to a cartel-linked fuel theft operation designed to dodge Mexican taxes while funneling tens of millions of dollars each year back to the cartel.
At the same time, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a formal alert to banks and financial institutions, outlining warning signs of fuel being smuggled from the United States into Mexico as part of tax evasion schemes.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent addressed the broader significance of the action in a statement: “Today’s action highlights the extent to which Mexico’s cartels are expanding beyond traditional drug trafficking to generate revenue for their criminal organizations, which continue to traffic deadly drugs that kill Americans.”
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has documented the Jalisco New Generation Cartel’s reach across 21 of Mexico’s 32 states, making it even more widespread than the Sinaloa Cartel, which is believed to operate in 19 states. President Donald Trump designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and five other Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations last year.
In recent years, Mexican authorities have seized millions of gallons of stolen diesel, gasoline, and petroleum distillates in states along the Texas border. Criminal organizations tap directly into pipelines and redirect fuel either to service stations that are forced to purchase from the cartels or sell it openly on the streets.
U.S. authorities have gone so far as to accuse the Jalisco New Generation Cartel of running its own network of service stations as part of the operation.
