Overview

• Four individuals — Abdon Federico Rodriguez Garcia, Antonio Romero Sanchez, Francisco Daniel Esqueda Nieto and rapper Ricardo Hernandez Medrano — were added to the Treasury Department’s OFAC sanctions list on August 6.
• The sanctions block any U.S. assets held by the listed individuals, prohibit American persons from transactions and authorize secondary penalties against foreign entities that interact with them.
• El Makabelico is accused of laundering money for CDN by diverting half of his streaming royalties and concert proceeds into the cartel’s financial network.
• Cartel del Noreste, designated a foreign terrorist organization in February, maintains vast drug trafficking, human smuggling and money laundering routes across Mexico and the United States.
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department will continue targeting leadership and financial channels that enable fentanyl distribution and border violence.