Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Sept. 14, 2026 — A new analysis released Monday maps 43 entities associated in U.S. sanctions records with the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación across Puerto Vallarta and neighboring Bahía de Banderas.
The Sept. 14 investigation counted 31 entities in Puerto Vallarta, including 15 classified as real estate businesses. Its totals describe sanctions-based associations, not criminal convictions.
Our review of official notices confirmed repeated OFAC actions naming companies in Puerto Vallarta, Bucerías, Bahía de Banderas, and La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. The U.S. Treasury has published those actions from 2023 through 2026.
How sanctions affect local transactions
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, known as OFAC, administers the sanctions involved in the analysis.
OFAC says U.S. persons generally cannot transact with blocked people or companies, regardless of where they are located. Property under U.S. jurisdiction must be frozen, rather than seized, unless OFAC authorizes its release.
In practical terms, a valid match could affect a wire transfer, escrow payment, timeshare charge, or property transaction. Many Puerto Vallarta residents use U.S. banks or financial services, giving the sanctions a direct local impact.
An OFAC designation does not automatically close a business in Mexico. It also does not establish guilt in a Mexican criminal court.
OFAC advises banks and companies to compare the full legal name, address, and corporate registration before blocking a transaction. The agency cautions that an address match alone may be insufficient because several businesses can share one location.
How the corridor count was built
Milenio said it reviewed 19,329 OFAC sanctions records current through September 2026. It isolated 1,234 records connected with Mexico and created a database of 487 businesses.
The analysis attributed 139 businesses to CJNG and 165 to the Sinaloa Cartel. It placed 43 CJNG-associated entities along the Puerto Vallarta–Bahía de Banderas corridor.
The corridor count covers Puerto Vallarta, Bucerías, Mezcales and La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. Puerto Vallarta accounted for 31 entries, while the remaining 12 were elsewhere along the corridor.
The analysis found that 15 of Puerto Vallarta’s 31 entities operated in real estate. That does not mean 15 companies were convicted of laundering money. The number reflects how the businesses were classified within the sanctions analysis.
The project combined structured links in OFAC data with relationships reconstructed from Treasury announcements, corporate names, aliases, tax registrations, and commercial registry numbers.
For the combined CJNG and Sinaloa Cartel dataset, 196 of 304 entities had a documented economic activity. Another 50 were classified provisionally from names or aliases, while 58 could not be assigned a sector.
PVDN found official records supporting the broad concentration of sanctioned companies. We did not find a Treasury document presenting 43, 31, or 15 as government-issued totals. Those three figures come from the published analysis.
Official records show repeated local designations
The official record shows how the local sanctions footprint accumulated.
In March 2023, OFAC sanctioned eight companies tied by Treasury to CJNG timeshare operations. Five were based in or near Puerto Vallarta.
The following month, OFAC added seven people and 19 companies located in the Puerto Vallarta area and elsewhere. The agency said those parties were linked directly or indirectly to CJNG timeshare activities.
A November 2023 action added three people and 13 companies. Several were listed as real estate businesses operating in Puerto Vallarta.
The public entries attach some companies to specific city addresses. One 2023 record placed Sociedad Spa Península at Avenida Francisco Medina Ascencio 2485 in Zona Hotelera Norte.
Another listed Banlu Comercializadora, also identified as CEAR Gym, at Calle Jilguero 171 in the Los Sauces neighborhood. The address should not be treated as an allegation against other businesses or current occupants at the location.
Treasury added four Puerto Vallarta companies in July 2024. It was followed by four people and 13 companies based in or near Puerto Vallarta in August 2025.
In February 2026, Treasury sanctioned Kovay Gardens in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, five people, and 17 companies associated with the network. PVDN reported on that action when it was announced.
The agency said several designations were based on companies being owned, controlled or directed by sanctioned people. Other entities were accused of acting for CJNG or members of its network.
Treasury had raised concerns about cartel influence in Puerto Vallarta before the business-focused sanctions accelerated. In 2022, then-Under Secretary Brian E. Nelson said cartel facilitators “help CJNG infiltrate the economy of Puerto Vallarta and intimidate legitimate businesses.”
A designation is not a conviction
OFAC designation is an administrative sanctions action. It is distinct from an arrest, indictment, or conviction issued through a criminal court.
Some sanctioned people may face separate criminal cases. Those proceedings require their own records and cannot be inferred from the business count.
Listed people and organizations may also request administrative reconsideration. OFAC says that process allows it to reassess whether the circumstances supporting a designation remain valid.
