Treasury Strikes Jalisco Cartel’s Timeshare Racket With 17 New Sanctions
The U.S. Department of the Treasury blacklisted 13 Mexican companies and four individuals Wednesday, exposing a thriving scam in coastal Jalisco that siphoned millions from U.S. retirees through fake timeshare deals. By freezing all U.S. property tied to the network and banning Americans from transacting with them, officials aim to shut off a lucrative funding stream for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), branded as a foreign terrorist organization since 2022.
The Cartel Timeshare Playbook
- Location focus – the scams were centered near Puerto Vallarta’s luxury resorts.
- Operation lifespan – running since at least 2012, the crew perfected rental and resale tricks.
- Six-month haul – Treasury traced $23.1 million wired from largely elderly victims in the United States to shell businesses in Mexico.
- Impersonation stunt – in late 2023 fraudsters even posed as Treasury representatives to squeeze more cash.
New Sanctions in Focus
The 17 designations cover travel agencies, escrow services, and real-estate outfits acting as front companies for CJNG. Any U.S. bank accounts or real property linked to these entities will now be blocked, and U.S. persons face criminal penalties if they supply goods, services, or financial support.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promised an unrelenting campaign: “We will keep strangling the cartels’ revenue until preying on seniors is no longer profitable.”
Historical Context
The Biden administration first warned the public about cartel-driven timeshare fraud in December 2023. That wave froze assets and travel visas for accountants and brokers who funneled victims’ savings to CJNG coffers.
Violent cartel allegedly behind timeshare scam
The Jalisco Syndicate Accused of Massacring Call-Center Employees Who Attempt to Walk Away
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel—infamous under the initials CJNG—allegedly orchestrated the execution of telephone-scam operators who expressed a wish to resign. According to joint findings released in June 2023 by American and Mexican agencies, eight young call-center workers vanished and were later confirmed dead after reportedly telling supervisors they wanted out of the cartel-run compound.
Same Kingpins Behind a Far Deadlier Business: Fake Opioid Pills
While headlines now focus on the slain workers, CJNG’s primary enterprise remains the industrial-scale manufacture of fentanyl. DEA laboratories repeatedly intercept millions of tablets pressed to mimic household prescription brands such as:
- Xanax
- Percocet
- Oxycodone
The knock-off pills flood U.S. retail corridors, fueling roughly 70,000 fatal overdoses annually.
Justice Department Ranks CJNG Among the World’s Most Lethal Organizations
Attorney General-designate statements describe the syndicate as one of the five most dangerous transnational criminal networks currently operating. At the organization’s helm sits Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes—“El Mencho”—a fugitive whose capture commands a fifteen-million-dollar State Department bounty, the highest ever offered for a narcotics kingpin.
Latest Counter-Measures: Sanctions, Extraditions, and Prison Stripping
The White House synchronized a three-pronged action this week:
- Financial Lockdown – Treasury froze assets of a chart-topping Mexican rapper alleged to launder CJNG proceeds, alongside two regional banks accused of enabling bulk purchases of fentanyl precursors.
- High-Level Handover – One day prior to the announcement, Mexico discreetly extradited 26 senior capos on U.S. arrest warrants. The roster included lieutenants from Los Chapitos, La Familia Michoacana, and, of course, CJNG.
- Prison De-networking – Security Minister Omar García Harfuch emphasized the extraditions will “sever operational command from inside Mexican jails and fracture their webs of corruption.”
Officials insist the wave of prisoner transfers is independent of tariff negotiations that have held bilateral trade hostage, yet insiders argue the timing sends an unmistakable message: Mexico will trade captives to head off economic reprisals.
