The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions against Jimenez Castro, a member of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel. He used an Ethereum wallet to transfer funds related to fentanyl smuggling.
“Jimenez Castro has instructed US-based couriers to pick up cash in the United States and deposit funds into various digital wallets to make payments directly Los Chapitos and for reinvestment in fentanyl production,” the department said in a statement.
According to Arkham, activity on the corresponding wallet was first recorded in January. Within two months, about $740,000 was received at the address. Binance and Coinbase exchanges were used.
Castro is placed on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, effectively freezing assets in the US and prohibiting US citizens from dealing with him.
The organization emphasized that Los Chapitos are responsible for a significant portion of the trafficking of fentanyl and other deadly drugs into the United States.
Earlier, Elliptic analysts spoke about a scheme for the supply of fentanyl for cryptocurrency.
In 2023, the US government began selling bitcoins confiscated from the Silk Road darknet marketplace. In March, the authorities exchanged 9861 BTC for $215 million, and in July 9824 BTC began to move (~$300 million at the time of the move).
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