“Ivan” for Borderland Beat
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has named six Mexican members of the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as six Culiacan-based companies, involved in the illicit trade of methamphetamine and fentanyl.
The network is led by brothers Ludim Zamudio Lerma and Luis Alfonso Zamudio Lerma, responsible for providing illicit precursor chemicals directly to Sinaloa Cartel members and laboratory operators, “further reinforcing the Sinaloa Cartel’s role as the preeminent facilitator of illicit fentanyl and other lethal. drugs trafficked to the United States.”
According to the statement, the Zamudio Lerma brothers are based in Culiacan, as is Ludim’s son Ludim Zamudio Ibarra, and are responsible for supplying illicit precursor chemicals to high-level cartel members such as Luis Gerardo Flores Madrid, who works for Ovidio Guzman Lopez, and lab operators, including Ernesto Machado Torres and Jose Santana Arredondo Beltran, who is also based in Culiacan.
These precursor chemicals are used in super labs to produce illicit fentanyl and methamphetamine, OFAC adds.
It adds that the Zamudio family owns several companies, two of which, Aceros y Refacciones del Humaya, SA de CV and Farmacia Ludim, were designated by OFAC as having engaged in, or attempted to engage in, activities or transactions that have materially contributed to, or posed a significant risk of materially contributing to, the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means of production.
It also designated each of the above persons pursuant to EO 14059 for having engaged, or attempted to engage, in activities or transactions that have materially contributed to, or pose a significant risk of materially contributing to, the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means.
Additionally, it designated a real estate company, Inmobiliaria del Rio Humaya, SA de CV , for being owned, controlled or directed by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Ludim Zamudio Lerma.
While a second real estate company, Operadora Zait, SA de CV , was designated for being owned, controlled or directed by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Luis Alfonso Zamudio Lerma.
OFAC also designated two import/export companies, Operadora del Humaya, SA de CV and Operadora Parque Alamedas, S. de RL de CV, as being owned, controlled or directed by, or having acted for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Ludim Zamudio Lerma and Ludim Zamudio Ibarra.
Therefore, all properties and interests in property of the designated persons that are located in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked.