The U.S. Treasury sanctioned five CJNG leaders, including “El Doble R,” prime suspect in the TikTok-streamed murder of Valeria Márquez in Zapopan, Jalisco.
On June 18, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sweeping sanctions against five senior leaders of Mexico’s powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), including Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, also known as “El Doble R.” The move underscores U.S. efforts to dismantle one of the most violent and expansive criminal organizations in the Western Hemisphere.
Ruiz Velasco was specifically named as the prime suspect in the murder of Mexican influencer Valeria Márquez, who was gunned down during a live TikTok broadcast at her beauty salon in Zapopan, Jalisco, on May 14, 2025. The Treasury also linked him to other notorious killings, including the 2013 assassination of Jalisco’s former tourism secretary and the 2017 execution of social media personality Juan Luis Lagunas Rosales, known as “The Pirate of Culiacán.”
“El Doble R,” who has served as a commander and propaganda figure for CJNG, was also accused of orchestrating a 2012 murder of a Venezuelan model in Guadalajara and a deadly 2019 ambush on police in Villagrán, Guanajuato.
In a forceful statement, the Treasury described the CJNG as “a brutally violent cartel, responsible for a significant portion of the fentanyl and other illicit drugs entering the United States,” and accused the group of using murder as a tool to intimidate rivals. The department also highlighted a CJNG recruitment camp discovered earlier this year in Teuchitlán, Jalisco—allegedly operated by another sanctioned cartel commander—that reportedly executed recruits who disobeyed orders.
The U.S. government cited Executive Orders 14059 and 13224 in the sanctions, which target narcotics traffickers and terrorist actors, respectively. The designations freeze all assets of the individuals within U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit Americans from conducting transactions with them.
A Closer Look at the CJNG’s Sanctioned Leadership
The sanctioned figures include:
- Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes – CJNG’s elusive and violent founder, wanted by the U.S. with a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
- Julio Alberto “El Chorro” Castillo Rodríguez – Oseguera’s son-in-law and key facilitator for importing fentanyl precursors through the port of Manzanillo, Colima.
- Gonzalo “El Sapo” Mendoza Gaytán – Allegedly oversaw the CJNG’s violent recruitment camp where defiant trainees were executed.
- Audias “El Jardinero” Flores Silva – Regional commander operating meth labs in Jalisco and Zacatecas; the U.S. is offering $5 million for his capture.
- Ricardo “El Doble R” Ruiz Velasco – Public figure and CJNG enforcer accused of multiple high-profile murders, including the recent killing of Valeria Márquez.
All five men are accused of acting on behalf of CJNG and participating in a wide range of crimes including drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, and murder.
The Shocking Murder of Valeria Márquez
Valeria Márquez, 23, was a beauty influencer with a sizable following on TikTok and Instagram. She was shot in her salon, Blossom the Beauty Lounge, while livestreaming to over 90,000 followers. The attack was brazen, personal, and widely circulated, triggering outrage across Mexico and drawing condemnation from President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Sheinbaum, addressing the nation the following day, confirmed that federal authorities and Jalisco prosecutors were investigating the killing under the femicide protocol. “There’s an investigation underway… and obviously our solidarity with her family,” she said.
According to preliminary reports from the Jalisco State Attorney General’s Office, a man entered the salon and shot Márquez in the chest and head. Minutes earlier, she had commented about a suspicious delivery man and joked to her audience, “Dude, maybe they were going to kill me.” The broadcast was cut off seconds after the fatal shots were fired.
Investigators believe the killer returned after previously attempting to leave a mysterious package earlier in the day—under the pretext of needing a photo of the recipient. A viewer on Márquez’s stream had ominously warned her she would soon receive “the most expensive gift of all.”
Márquez’s killing has been widely perceived as a calculated message, fitting a pattern of CJNG’s use of public acts of violence to silence critics and intimidate enemies.
CJNG’s Global Reach and Domestic Reign of Terror
According to the U.S. Treasury, CJNG operates clandestine drug labs across Mexico and traffics synthetic drugs including fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine into the U.S. The cartel also controls Mexico’s largest Pacific port and is involved in a wide range of illicit enterprises—from oil theft and human smuggling to real estate and construction fraud.
The organization’s expansion has come at a deadly cost to Mexico. CJNG operatives have been tied to the assassination of public officials, judges, law enforcement, and civilians. The cartel’s tactics include bombings, torture, and mass executions, with femicide increasingly used as a violent message strategy.
The Treasury’s sanctions are the latest in a series of U.S. actions aimed at CJNG. The cartel was first designated under the Kingpin Act in 2015 and later under Executive Order 14059 in 2021. In February 2025, it was also labeled a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
CJNG’s ability to operate as a decentralized franchise across Mexican states has made it difficult to dismantle. The U.S. continues to offer multimillion-dollar rewards for information leading to the capture of its top leaders.
Implications of Sanctions
The designations carry significant legal and financial consequences. All assets of the sanctioned individuals under U.S. jurisdiction are now frozen, and American citizens and entities are prohibited from doing business with them. Entities owned 50% or more by one or more designated individuals are also automatically blocked.
“Noncompliance with U.S. sanctions may result in civil or criminal penalties,” OFAC warned. Financial institutions worldwide are also at risk of secondary sanctions if they facilitate transactions involving any of the blacklisted individuals.
The OFAC action was paired with earlier alerts from the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which warned about red flags for oil smuggling and fentanyl trafficking involving CJNG-linked networks.
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned five CJNG leaders, including "El Doble R," prime suspect in the TikTok-streamed murder of Valeria M . . .
