The U.S. Treasury Department has taken its first enforcement steps under the new FEND Off Fentanyl Act, targeting three Mexican financial institutions accused of laundering money for drug cartels involved in fentanyl production.
FinCEN, the federal financial intelligence unit, designated CIBanco, Intercam Banco, and Vector Casa de Bolsa as primary money laundering concerns on Wednesday. These actions ban American banks from processing certain transactions involving the three firms, which authorities say have played a central role in moving illicit funds linked to fentanyl trafficking.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stated that these banks are “enabling the poisoning of countless Americans,” emphasizing the government’s commitment to using every available tool against fentanyl smuggling.
CIBanco, with over $7 billion in assets, is alleged to have done business with the Beltrán-Leyva, Jalisco New Generation, and Gulf cartels. In 2023, a bank employee reportedly helped open an account that laundered $10 million for a Gulf Cartel member. Between 2021 and 2024, the bank also processed more than $2.1 million in payments to Chinese companies that supply chemicals used to make fentanyl.
Intercam, a $4 billion commercial bank, similarly faces allegations of assisting the Jalisco New Generation cartel. FinCEN reported that senior bank executives met with cartel members in 2022 to discuss moving money through China. The institution handled at least $1.5 million in payments from Mexican businesses to Chinese chemical suppliers linked to drug production from 2021 to 2024.
Vector Casa de Bolsa, a brokerage managing nearly $11 billion in assets, was found to have helped launder funds for the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels. A money mule moved $2 million from the United States to Mexico through Vector between 2013 and 2021. The firm also processed over $1 million in payments to Chinese companies from 2018 to 2023, despite what FinCEN described as inadequate anti-money laundering safeguards.
These steps are an extension of a broader crackdown that began with a January 2025 executive order designating several Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. The new restrictions will take effect three weeks after publication in the Federal Register, after which American financial institutions must stop any fund transfers involving the three designated firms, including those tied to accounts and virtual currency addresses.