In a bold escalation of its efforts to combat the synthetic opioid crisis, the US Treasury Department has announced sweeping sanctions against three Mexican financial institutions accused of laundering money for drug cartels deeply involved in fentanyl trafficking. The action, unveiled on June 25, marks the first use of powers granted under the recently enacted FEND Off Fentanyl Act, signaling Washington’s intent to wield financial warfare against what it now increasingly labels as narco-terrorism.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Treasury’s anti-money laundering unit, designated CIBanco, Intercam Banco, and Vector Casa de Bolsa as “primary money laundering concerns” for their alleged roles in facilitating vast and illicit flows of capital between Mexican cartels and Chinese chemical suppliers. These three institutions are now effectively cut off from the US financial system, with American banks prohibited from processing transactions involving them. The new rules also target related accounts and cryptocurrency wallets.

The sanctions are the first formal step under the FEND Off Fentanyl Act-short for Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence Off Fentanyl-which passed Congress with bipartisan support earlier this year. It empowers the federal government to take aggressive financial action against entities suspected of facilitating the opioid trade. Paired with the Fentanyl Sanctions Act, the legislation provides a robust framework to disrupt the global supply chain of synthetic narcotics by targeting the financial infrastructure sustaining it.

“These institutions are enabling the poisoning of countless Americans,” said US Treasury Secretary........

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