Overview
- OFAC designated the Bhardwaj Human Smuggling Organization, its leader Vikrant Bhardwaj, three other individuals and 16 affiliated companies, freezing any U.S.-linked assets and barring U.S. persons from dealings.
- Treasury describes a transnational network that allegedly moved migrants from Europe, the Middle East, South America and Asia toward the U.S. using the Tapachula–Cancún–Mexicali corridor.
- Named operatives include José Germán Valadez Flores, accused of bribing Mexican officials to facilitate flows to Cancún, and ex–Quintana Roo police officer Jorge Alejandro Mendoza Villegas, cited for leveraging airport access.
- Treasury links the operation to narcotics trafficking, bribery and money laundering, with claimed operational support from individuals working for the Sinaloa Cartel.
- The action was coordinated with Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit and supported by U.S. investigative partners, as officials seek to disrupt the group’s logistics and financial channels.