Treasury Department Designates Sinaloa-Connected Mexican National Indicted In Colorado

DENVER - The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announces that the Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated two distinct networks linked to the Sinaloa Cartel and its fentanyl trafficking activities. An OFAC designation means that an individual, entity, or organization is officially sanctioned by the United States Treasury, and their property and financial interests under U.S. jurisdiction are blocked from use or transfer. In the District of Colorado, a federal grand jury has indicted Rodrigo Alarcon Palomares, a Mexican national and associate of one of those Sinaloa linked networks, with three counts of laundering drug proceeds through cryptocurrency.

According to the indictment, Alarcon Palomares knowingly conducted financial transactions involving the conversion of drug proceeds into cryptocurrency.

This action is taken in coordination with the Government of Mexico's financial intelligence unit, the Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera (UIF). The action was taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14059, which targets the proliferation of illicit drugs and their means of production, and pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, which targets terrorists and their supporters.

This action is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. The Rocky Mountain HSTF comprises agents and officers from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Internal Revenue Service, Office of Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); United States Marshals Service (USMS); Diplomatic Security Service (DSS); United States Citizenship and Immigration Services; and Immigration and Customs Enforcement / Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE/ERO); and United States Customs and Border Patrol with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado.

A list of the updates to the specially designated nationals list maintained by OFAC can be found hereLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link..