The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ввело санкции against Himenes Castro — a member of the Mexican drug cartel Sinaloa. He used an Ethereum wallet to transfer funds linked to fentanyl trafficking.
“Himenes Castro instructed US-based couriers to collect cash in the United States and deposit funds into various digital wallets to effect payments directly to the Лос-Чапитос and to reinvest in fentanyl production,” the department said.
According to Arkham, activity on the address was first recorded in January. Over two months, about $740,000 was deposited into the address. Exchanges used were Binance and Coinbase.
Himenes Castro внесен в Список особо обозначенных граждан и заблокированных лиц OFAC. OFAC has effectively frozen his assets in the United States and barred Americans from dealing with him.
The agency stressed that Los Chapitos are responsible for a large share of fentanyl trafficking and other deadly drugs smuggled into the United States.
Earlier, Elliptic said they had details of a fentanyl-for-cryptocurrency supply scheme.
In 2023, the U.S. government began selling bitcoins seized from the Silk Road darknet marketplace. In March authorities exchanged 9,861 BTC for $215 million, and in July moved 9,824 BTC (~$300 million at the time of transfer).