US Treasury sanctions Mexican cartel's horse-racing and logistics network
The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on four individuals and 11 entities linked to the Cartel del Noreste, targeting a horse-racing, construction, trucking and energy network used to fund the group.
On Tuesday the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned four people and eleven companies tied to the Cartel del Noreste (CDN), focusing on a business web that spans horse racing, construction, trucking and energy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called it the agency’s biggest strike against CDN’s money-laundering operations, highlighting the cartel’s reliance on horse-racing ventures. Designated individuals include Pablo Cesar Guajardo Alvarez, a former sicario leader now running a CDN plaza in Nuevo Laredo, and businessman Gamaliel Garza Garcia along with his son, who operate horse-racing interests in both the United States and Mexico.
The sanctions also hit Club La Molienda, a racetrack-restaurant complex in Tamaulipas, and Tamex, a trucking firm linked to cocaine shipments concealed in brake drums. Authorities say cartel-front companies spent $16 million on U.S. quarter-horse racing and laundered over $22 million between 2008 and 2012, resulting in the seizure of 455 horses.
Why it matters
The sanctions aim to cut off a major money-laundering channel that finances a violent Mexican cartel.
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