Summary
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned more than a dozen individuals and entities linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, focusing on networks laundering fentanyl proceeds through crypto.
The action’s target – the Los Chapitos faction’s chief money launderer and his associates – converted cash from U.S. drug sales into crypto for transfer to Mexico.
These sanctions represent a targeted effort by U.S. authorities to dismantle the cash-to-crypto pipelines utilized by transnational narco-terrorist organizations.
On May 20, 2026, U.S. authorities sanctioned a Sinaloa Cartel-run money laundering network that moved the cash proceeds of fentanyl sales across the U.S.-Mexico border using cryptocurrency. This enforcement action dismantles a specialized financial cell responsible for converting street-level fiat drug proceeds into cryptocurrency, allowing the cartel to bypass the traditional banking sector.Los Chapitos’ fentanyl cash-to-crypto pipelineThis sanctions designation’s crypto nexus centers on a Sinaloa-based laundering network operated by Armando de Jesus Ojeda Aviles. Ojeda Aviles became the primary money launderer for the Sinaloa Cartel’s Los Chapitos faction, following the murder of his predecessor, Mario Alberto Jimenez Castro, whom OFAC sanctioned in September 2023 for laundering fentanyl proceeds with crypto.Ojeda Aviles oversees a complex logistics web involving U.S.-based couriers who collect bulk quantities of physical cash derived from illicit narcotics sales. Once aggregated, his network facilitates the conversion of this fiat currency into cryptocurrency.Key figures within this crypto-laundering cell include:
