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Cartel Leaders Indicted In 2017 Now Facing Financial Sanctions from US Treasury

Charlie Kirk Staff

06/21/2024

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Cartel Leaders Indicted In 2017 Now Facing Financial Sanctions from US Treasury

Two leaders of the La Nueva Familia Michoacana drug cartel, who were indicted in 2017 for conspiring to import and distribute heroin in the U.S., are now facing financial sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the fugitives are believed to be residing in Mexico.

In a press release on Thursday, the DOJ stated that 59-year-old Rodolfo Maldonado-Bustos, also known as Don Jose, and 51-year-old Euclides Camacho-Goicochea, also known as El Quilles, were charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute heroin, and conspiracy to import heroin into the U.S., back in 2017.

Additionally, Camacho-Goicochea faced charges for conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.

Although the indictments were issued by a grand jury in 2017, they were only unsealed recently.

The Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) announced financial sanctions against both Camacho-Goicochea and Maldonado-Bustos on Thursday.

“These actions demonstrate that in addition to holding cartel leaders accountable for their crimes, we are working together with our partners at the Treasury Department to hit the cartels’ criminal operations where it hurts the most – their profits,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “We will continue to mobilize a whole-of-government effort to disrupt the cartels profiting from the drug trafficking and human smuggling that devastate communities and endanger our national security.”

The indictments allege that in September 2016, DEA and IRS agents began investigating members of the Mexico-based La Nueva Familia Michoacana cartel who were allegedly importing heroin, cocaine, and marijuana into the U.S., specifically in places like the Northern District of Georgia.

This investigation identified Maldonado-Bustos as a “high-level cartel member” allegedly involved in coordinating the manufacturing of significant quantities of heroin in Mexico.

“The investigation revealed that Maldonado-Bustos allegedly directed the harvesting of gum from opium fields, procured chemicals to process the gum into heroin, and supplied Camacho-Goicochea and other conspirators in Mexico with the heroin to import into cities in the United States, including Atlanta, and Houston,” the DOJ alleged. “The investigation further revealed that Camacho-Goicochea allegedly coordinated the collection and return of drug proceeds from the United States back to Mexico.”

In early 2017, agents seized over $580,000 in drug proceeds from vehicles and homes in the Atlanta area, which the DOJ claims were intended for the cartel.

“Denying drug cartels the profits earned from distributing poison in our communities is an essential tool in DEA’s efforts to combat these drug cartels,” Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Murphy of the Drug Enforcement Administration Atlanta Field Division said. “DEA Atlanta will continue to attack the La Nueva Familia cartel on all fronts by arresting its members, as well as seizing their drugs and assets.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Fox News on Thursday that her agency had imposed sanctions on eight individuals associated with one of the most vicious Mexican drug cartels responsible for trafficking fentanyl into the U.S.

“We intend, through these actions, to try to cut them off, to make their business very difficult or impossible by cutting them off from the U.S. financial system and the dollar,” she said. “We took the sanctions jointly with the drug enforcement agency and U.S. attorney’s office in Atlanta.”

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Charlie Kirk is the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, a national student movement dedicated to empowering young people to promote the principles of free markets and limited government.

Charlie is also the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show” podcast, which regularly ranks among the top-10 news shows on Apple podcast news charts, and is the host of the nationally syndicated daily radio show on the Salem Radio Network live from 12 - 3 PM ET.
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