Puerto Vallarta (PVDN) – The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury has sanctioned Eduardo Pardo Espino, a fugitive facing drug trafficking charges in the United States, along with six other individuals and 19 Mexican companies allegedly connected to the timeshare fraud in Puerto Vallarta operated by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
In a statement released on Thursday, OFAC coordinated this action with the Government of Mexico and US government partners, highlighting that those involved are situated in the Puerto Vallarta area of Jalisco. This region is considered a strategic stronghold of the CJNG for drug trafficking and other illicit activities.
“The CJNG’s deep involvement in timeshare fraud in the Puerto Vallarta area and elsewhere, which often targets senior US citizens and can defraud victims out of their life savings, is a major source of revenue that supports the group’s overall criminal enterprise,” said Brian E. Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
He added, “As part of the Administration’s whole-of-government effort to address this crisis and, in coordination with our partners in Mexico, Treasury remains committed to disrupting the CJNG’s sources of revenue.”
OFAC designated Mexican national Eduardo Pardo Espino (Pardo) as a fugitive from US justice and a financial operator of the CJNG based in Puerto Vallarta. In September 2019, following an investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), a federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of California indicted Pardo for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
Pardo has also been involved with Servicios Administrativos Fordtwoo, SA de CV, a company linked to the CJNG’s timeshare fraud activities and known for making direct payments to cartel members.
Mexicans Brayan Moises Luquin Rodriguez (Luquin) and Horacio Edmundo Lelo de Larrea Ventimilla (Lelo de Larrea) have also been designated by OFAC, as they act on behalf of the Jalisco Cartel and are directly or indirectly linked to its timeshare fraud activities.
The remaining designated Mexicans, Luis Lorenzo Gomez Arias (Gomez), Clemente Padilla Zarate (Padilla), Pedro Rivas Sanchez (Rivas), and Ian Jassiel Gonzalez Villegas (Gonzalez), are also directly or indirectly connected to the fraudulent activities.
The Government of Mexico recognizes 19 criminal organizations, two of which have a supranational scope: the Pacific Cartel and the CJNG, considered one of the most powerful in the world.
The CJNG, one of the most dangerous transnational criminal organizations globally, is led by Nemesio Oseguera, alias El Mencho, who has a strong presence in Mexico and the United States.
The DEA ranks the Jalisco New Generation Cartel among the five most violent and dangerous criminal groups in the world.
