LA OFICINA DE ENVIGADO

Medellin, Colombia

The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated the Medellín, Colombia-based criminal organization La Oficina de Envigado (La Oficina) for its significant role in international narcotics trafficking pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). As a result of today’s action, all La Oficina assets based in the United States or in control by U.S. citizens and entities are frozen, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with this criminal organization. Today’s action allows for additional sanctions that can target individuals and entities identified for supporting the illicit activities of La Oficina. La Oficina has its roots in the 1980s and 1990s, when its founding members provided enforcement, assassination, and drug debt collection services for the leaders of the Medellín Cartel, including deceased Medellín Cartel leader Pablo Escobar. Since then, despite violent infighting and the loss of several important leaders, the criminal infrastructure of La Oficina has grown. Operatives for La Oficina play a major role in organized criminal activity, including narcotics trafficking, both within and outside of Colombia, although the organization’s primary area of activity continues to be the Valle de Aburrá region of Colombia, where the neighboring cities of Medellín and Envigado are located. In recent years, transnational criminal groups from outside of Colombia, including the Sinaloa Cartel, have come to rely upon operatives of La Oficina for support in trafficking narcotics throughout the world. OFAC has previously targeted several individuals and entities associated with La Oficina for sanctions for their involvement in other trafficking organizations.

US

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jl2441

2014-06-26

US

Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 598

OFAC-horizontal

Drugs

Blocking Property

The Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 598 (FNKSR), implement the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (21 U.S.C. 1901–1908), which provides authority for the application of sanctions to significant foreign narcotics traffickers and their organizations operating worldwide.

SDN