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- The US Treasury Division’s Space of business of International Resources Management (OFAC) has sanctioned an Ethereum address linked to a drug peddler
- Mario Alberto Jimenez Castro is associated with the Sinaloa cartel and his Ethereum address has been ancient to funnel drug funds
- The U.S. authorities is offering a $1 million reward supplied for his arrest/conviction.
The US Treasury Division’s Space of business of International Resources Management (OFAC) has expanded its sanctions list to encompass ten folks concerned with illicit narcotics shopping and selling and has sanctioned an Ethereum address consequently. The address in demand is that of Mario Alberto Jimenez Castro, additionally identified as “Kastor,” a 34-300 and sixty five days-ancient Mexican associated with the Sinaloa cartel. While the wallet is currently nearly empty it has seen tens of hundreds of greenbacks in stablecoins moved by it over time.
Medication Sales Funneled By Crypto
Consistent with the Enlighten Division, Jimenez Castro is a cash launderer who operates a company that makes spend of cryptocurrency to pass proceeds from fentanyl trafficking across the Mexican border, including cities like Original York Metropolis, Boston, Denver, Nashville, Omaha, and Salt Lake Metropolis. The US Division of Enlighten is offering a reward of as much as $1 million for info main to his arrest and/or conviction.
Since around August 2022, Jimenez Castro has been allegedly instructing folks to salvage cash from a ramification of traffickers within the US after which depositing that cash into cryptocurrency wallets controlled by a ramification of excessive-ranking participants of the organization.
The address in demand currently holds beautiful 0.017 ETH ($27), nonetheless its transaction history reveals frequent inbound transfers from Coinbase, adopted by outbound transfers to Binance, that can please the Securities and Alternate Commission in its makes an try to bring them down. In total, a total bunch of hundreds of greenbacks’ price of stablecoins hold flowed by the address, including 143,965 USDT to Binance in 2022.
OFAC’s Crypto List Grows
Jimenez Castro is now among a growing list of authorities-sanctioned cryptocurrency addresses linked to prison activities, alongside these linked to the North Korean Lazarus Neighborhood and crypto mixers like Tornado Money, which strengthen transaction privateness and are thus liked by cash launderers.
Sanctioned addresses can technically serene be ancient nonetheless are unlawful to hold interplay with, potentially exposing crypto exchanges that work alongside with these blacklisted addresses to appropriate penalties from authorities.
