The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned 23 individuals and entities involved in a synthetic opioid procurement network with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. The designations target multiple stages of the fentanyl and methamphetamine supply chain, spanning India-based chemical suppliers and Latin America-based brokers, importers, and cartel-linked actors. OFAC identified India-based supplier Satishkumar Hareshbhai Sutaria and salesperson Yuktakumari Ashishkumar Modi, along with SR Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals and Agrat Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, for facilitating shipments of fentanyl precursors to Mexico and Guatemala that were allegedly mislabeled as 'safe chemicals'; Sutaria and Modi were arrested by Indian authorities in March 2025. The action also covered brokers and logistics nodes including Guatemala-based Jaime Augusto Barrientos Camaz and J and C Import, which OFAC linked to 116 kilograms of N-Boc-4-Piperidone over two months, and Central Logistica de Servicios. Mexico-based designations included broker Karina Guadalupe Carrillo Torres and supplier Regulo Acosta Hernandez and their companies, as well as Mexico-based broker Maria Viridiana Rugerio Arriaga and her company, and import networks tied to Jose de Jesus Ramirez Torres, including a Florida-based entity identified as blocked property. Additional Mexico-based importers and two Sinaloa Cartel-affiliated individuals, plus a pharmacy linked to fentanyl-laced pill production, were also designated. The designations were issued under Executive Order 14059 and, for certain parties, Executive Order 13224 as amended, and were described as taken in furtherance of Executive Order 14367, which designated fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals as weapons of mass destruction. As a result, U.S.-jurisdiction property and interests in property of the designated or otherwise blocked persons are blocked, the 50 percent ownership rule applies, and most dealings by U.S. persons are prohibited absent authorization; OFAC also flagged potential civil or criminal penalties and the risk of secondary sanctions exposure for foreign financial institutions that facilitate significant transactions for designated persons.
U.S. Department of the Treasury 2026-04-23
U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions 23 individuals and entities tied to a Sinaloa Cartel synthetic opioid precursor network
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 23 individuals and entities in a synthetic opioid procurement network tied to the Sinaloa Cartel, targeting India-based chemical suppliers, Latin America-based brokers and importers, and cartel-linked actors across the fentanyl and methamphetamine supply chain. The designations, issued under Executive Orders 14059 and 13224 as amended, block U.S.-jurisdiction property and interests in property, extend restrictions via the 50 percent ownership rule, and expose U.S. persons and foreign financial institutions to penalties and secondary sanctions risk for significant dealings with designated parties.