Treasury sanctions firms for alleged links to fentanyl cartel

A dozen Mexico-based companies are barred from doing business in the United States due to connections with the Sinaloa Cartel, according to a Monday statement from the Treasury Department. The U.S. officials also sanctioned eight individuals who it said were involved in a business network supplying the terror group with illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals. The Sinaloa Cartel is responsible for most of the deadly drug trafficking in America, specifically in fentanyl and methamphetamine, the department said.

Officials focused on a specific faction of the cartel known as Los Chapitos, a sector run by the four sons of infamous drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman Loera. Los Chapitos get drug precursor chemicals, oversee illegal laboratories using the chemicals to create the drugs, and manage the illicit product’s distribution, the U.S. Treasury Department said in its statement. Two of El Chapo’s sons now oversee Los Chapitos, after their two other brothers were arrested in 2023 and 2024, following their father’s 2019 life prison sentence, according to the Treasury Department.

What companies were sanctioned? Federal officials sanctioned a chemical and laboratory equipment company called Sumilab and its owners, several members of the Favela Lopez family, for their alleged dealings with the cartel and Los Chapitos. Seven of the family’s chemical, laboratory equipment, and agriculture-related companies were also sanctioned, along with the Favela Lopez family’s operational frontman, whom the Treasury names as Cesar Elias Lopez Araujo.

Officials also sanctioned Martha Emilia Conde Uraga for allegedly brokering chemicals out of various warehouses in the area. The Treasury Department also sanctioned four chemical and industrial cleaning companies run by Conde Uraga and her family. The department reaffirmed its commitment to dismantling the complex financial networks that support narco-terrorists. 

Dig deeper: Read my report on the Sinaloa Cartel’s co-founder pleading guilty to his crimes in August.