The U.S. Department of Justice is intensifying its fight against drug cartels in Mexico, focusing on financial intermediaries who channel drug trafficking proceeds thru cryptocurrencies and other sophisticated methods. The strategy seeks to cut off the resources that enable the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and other violent groups to sustain their cross-border operations.
Recent transfers of defendants from Mexico to the U.S. offer a glimpse into the money-laundering networks of Mexican cartels, highlighting how intermediaries oversee and conceal drug-trafficking proceeds thru U.S. banks and digital assets.
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Financial intermediaries: a key target in the fight against cartels
U.S. prosecutors explain that by targeting drug cartels’ financial intermediaries, rather than just street-level dealers, they strike a critical element of the drug trafficking money flow.
“If you cut off the money, you hurt the cartels, and that’s what we’re trying to do”, said A. Tysen Duva, deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, in an interview with The Associated Press.
These intermediaries organize cash collection in U.S. cities and use cryptocurrencies and other digital methods to transfer funds to cartel leaders in Mexico, adapting to increased border surveillance and asset controls.
Transfers and extraditions of defendants accused of belonging to Mexican cartels
Since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, Mexico has sent more than 90 high-level cartel-linked defendants to the U.S. to be prosecuted for crimes such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and human trafficking. The most recent transfer included Eduardo Rigoberto Velasco Calderón, Eliomar Segura Torres, Manuel Ignacio Correa, and César Linares Orozco, who face charges of conspiracy to launder money in federal courts in Kentucky.
Senior Justice Department officials point out that these extraditions not only send a deterrent message but could also facilitate cooperation from defendants to reveal high-level cartel leaders, thereby strengthening the financial prosecution of drug trafficking.
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Strategic shift by the DOJ: from drug traffickers to financial systems
Under the Trump administration, the DOJ’s Criminal Division was restructured to integrate narcotics prosecutors with money-laundering experts, reflecting a shift toward dismantling the financial systems that sustain the cartels.
Duva explained that prosecutors are seeking to understand how cartels move money from the U.S. to Mexico, including cash smuggling and the growing trend of converting it into cryptocurrencies to conceal its origin.
Legal debate in Mexico over the transfer of defendants
Some lawyers and family members of the detainees have questioned the legality of transferring defendants from Mexico to the United States without formal extradition orders. For its part, the Mexican government has maintained that these actions were carried out within the legal framework and for reasons of national security.
The joint strategy between Mexico and the United States reflects the growing focus on Mexican cartel financial intermediaries, cryptocurrencies, and money laundering as tools to combat violence and cross-border drug trafficking.
