Sonora, Mexico

Following Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen’s trip to Mexico, where she continued close coordination with the Government of Mexico on countering the illicit drug trade and other shared security priorities, today Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Malas Mañas transnational criminal organization (TCO), a human smuggling and narcotics trafficking organization based in Sonora, Mexico, along with two individuals in its support network. Human smuggling organizations like Malas Mañas value profit over human life, endanger the lives of migrants and undermine the U.S. asylum system. In addition to human smuggling, Malas Mañas traffics deadly drugs, including illicit fentanyl and methamphetamine, thereby threatening the national security of the United States and Mexico. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) worked with OFAC to sanction key members of Malas Mañas leadership and the organization itself to impede access to illicit proceeds from drug trafficking and human smuggling. Established by Jorge Damian Roman Figueroa (Roman Figueroa) (a.k.a. “El Soldado”) as early as 2016, Malas Mañas is a human smuggling TCO with a primary base of operations in Sonora, Mexico. The organization smuggles undocumented non-citizens — often including individuals from Guatemala and El Salvador — through Sonora, across the U.S. Southwest Border, and into Arizona, including Phoenix and Tucson. With operations on both sides of the border and hundreds of members, Malas Mañas is also involved in narcotics trafficking and weapons trafficking. Specifically, Malas Mañas has distributed illicit fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine in the United States. Members of the organization have been known to wear merchandise, such as hats and shirts, featuring the Malas Mañas slogan, “SQLD,”—short for solo que lo dudes (only that you doubt it)—and logo, a sun-shaped emblem with a soldier in the center. The group includes sicarios (hitmen) working for Malas Mañas leadership. Malas Mañas’ founder, Roman Figueroa, works closely with Sinaloa Cartel leader Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela (a.k.a. “Gigio”). On September 22, 2021, OFAC designated both Roman Figueroa and Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela, among other Sinaloa Cartel members, pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. The following month, Mexican authorities arrested Roman Figueroa in Nogales, Sonora. Today, OFAC designated Malas Mañas pursuant to Executive Order 13581, as amended by E.O. 13863 (hereafter, “E.O. 13581, as amended”), for being a foreign person that constitutes a significant TCO. In addition to Malas Mañas, OFAC also sanctioned two Mexico-based human smugglers, Luis Eduardo Roman Flores (Roman Flores) and Joel Alexandro Salazar Ballesteros (Salazar Ballesteros), pursuant to E.O. 13581, as amended, for being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Malas Mañas. Specifically, Roman Flores works for his imprisoned brother, Roman Figueroa, to facilitate the crossing of undocumented non-citizens into the United States on behalf of Malas Mañas. Roman Flores oversees the gathering of non-citizens, sets smuggling prices, and receives payments on behalf of the organization. Roman Flores uses social media websites to coordinate smuggling arrangements with non-citizens. In addition to distributing illicit fentanyl and attempting to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine in the United States, Salazar Ballesteros participates in human smuggling operations on behalf of Malas Mañas. Additionally, Salazar Ballesteros manages Malas Mañas’ finances and communicates with human smuggling stash house caretakers.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1986

2023-12-14

US

Transnational Criminal Organizations Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 590; Executive Order 13581 of July 24, 2011 Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations

OFAC-horizontal

Criminal organizations

Blocking Property

On January 12, 2012, OFAC issued the Transnational Criminal Organizations Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 590 (77 FR 1864, January 12, 2012) (the “Regulations”), to implement Executive Order (E.O.) 13581 of July 24, 2011, “Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations” (76 FR 44757, July 27, 2011), pursuant to authorities delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury in E.O. 13581. The Regulations were initially issued in abbreviated form for the purpose of providing immediate guidance to the public. OFAC amended the Regulations on July 23, 2019 (84 FR 35307, July 23, 2019) to implement E.O. 13863 of March 15, 2019, “Taking Additional Steps to Address the National Emergency With Respect to Significant Transnational Criminal Organizations” (84 FR 10255, March 19, 2019), which amended E.O. 13581. OFAC is amending and reissuing the Regulations as a more comprehensive set of regulations that includes additional interpretive guidance and definitions, general licenses, and other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public. Due to the number of regulatory sections being updated or added, OFAC is reissuing the Regulations in their entirety. E.O. 13581 On July 24, 2011, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), issued E.O. 13581. In E.O. 13581, the President found that the activities of significant transnational criminal organizations, such as those listed in the Annex to E.O. 13581, have reached such scope and gravity that they threaten the stability of international political and economic systems. The President further found that such organizations are becoming increasingly sophisticated and dangerous to the United States; they are increasingly entrenched in the operations of foreign governments and the international financial system, thereby weakening democratic institutions, degrading the rule of law, and undermining economic markets. The President stated these organizations facilitate and aggravate violent civil conflicts and increasingly facilitate the activities of other dangerous persons. The President determined that the activities of significant transnational criminal organizations constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat.

SDN