The Office of Control of Foreign Assets (OFACfor its acronym in English) United States Department of the Treasury newsletter to seven people and 27 Mexican companies for his apparent involvement in a network of fraud and money launderingtaking advantage of the offer of travel servicescontrolled by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
According to the bulletin of the OFAC, Vallarta Port is one of the main destinations controlled by the cartel headed by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantesalias “El Mencho”.
Through a scheme of fraud and money launderinghe CJNG take advantage of the sector shared time and thus finance their activities at the expense of foreign citizensmostly American people.
Said communiqué explains that the frauds were carried out through unsolicited purchase offers to property ownersto whom they requested advance payments To cover taxes and rates to expedite the transaction, with a alleged money-back guarantee.
Later, when they received the money, the scammers disappeared.
Another of the fraud models consisted of offering real estate projects under the time-share scheme that were never built, either because the companies in charge disappearedor, because the works were planned in restricted areas and, later, they were cancelled. So the investors they never received their capital back.
The sanction actions of the Treasury Department against the companies and people involvedallowed to warn potentials, which are regularly elderly people.
In this way, tourism opens the doors to a wide range of possible fraud, such as the use of lenders and shell companies with which he CJNG You can make large orders for construction materials, as well as movements to finance the construction of real estate for legitimize large amounts of illicit money.
Besides of tourism and constructionhe gastronomic sector It is also part of the network of twists used by the CJNG.
For example, there is the business case Kenzo Sushi Loungeoperated by Jessica Oseguera Gonzalezdaughter of “El Mencho”, that enters 2015 and 2018 served the cartel to launder income of up to a million and a half dollarsaccording to information from local media.
The drug dealer’s daughter was in charge multiple companieswith which he made millionaire operationsfinancial activities without any type of logic and all were legally registered in the Public Registry of Property and Commerce of the state of Jalisco.
In addition to the above, a food or beverage business may represent multiple facilities for the narcotics distribution and they are also scenarios of attacks and violent episodes.
As an example of this, there are bars and nightclubs of Guanajuato that they have housed dozens of massacres and attacks in the middle of the dispute that the CJNG keep with him Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel (CSRL).
Not far, just in Vallarta Port he August 15, 2016in the middle of the birthday celebration of Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazarhe, his brother jesus alfredo and four other people were subdued and kidnapped by alleged hitmen of the CJNG.
Although no shots were fired at the “Boys” and they were released days later, the fact remained in the memory of the locals, where precisely they were released.
Also, the Bar District 5 It was the scene where they executed Aristotle Sandoval, former state governorhe December 18, 2020where apparently, the CJNG would also have been involved.
Altar in memory of ex-governor Aristóteles Sandoval
Research published in Insight Crime stated that, despite the sanctions applied by the OFAC and government investigations USAthe criminal operations of the CJNG They would not have major repercussions.
The foregoing, because despite the sanctions, only the assets of the companies in USAbut have minimal impact at the local level.
“For every ten companies involved, they have 100 in operationhence It’s not very significant.” warned the sources consulted by Insight Crime.
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