US takes action to tackle money behind fentanyl trade
The Biden administration said Monday it was creating a “counter-fentanyl strike force” within the Treasury Department to combat trafficking of the drug into the United States by more aggressively scrutinizing the finances of suspected drug dealers.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations Unit will lead the new team. It will seek to detect and disrupt money laundering linked to fentanyl trafficking and more effectively tackle sanctions violations.
Officials from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Treasury Department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis will also work with counterparts in Mexico and Canada to stem the flow of fentanyl across the northern and southern borders.
The Treasury Department has become a key player in the Biden administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal drugs entering the United States because it can track financial flows that benefit traffickers. Over the past two years, the Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on approximately 250 people and organizations linked to drug trafficking.
“The Treasury Department’s Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force will enable us to apply the Department’s unparalleled expertise in combating financial crime against this deadly epidemic,” Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said in a statement. a statement. “The Treasury Department will use every tool at its disposal to disrupt drug traffickers’ ability to spread this poison in our country.”
Ms. Yellen will begin that work in person this week when she travels to Mexico on Tuesday for three days of talks with senior officials. The Treasury Secretary will also meet with Mexican bank executives to encourage the private sector to curb illegal financing linked to fentanyl.
The Treasury Department’s focus on fentanyl comes weeks after President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to work together to combat narcotics trafficking. At a meeting in San Francisco, China agreed to help curb shipments of chemicals used to make fentanyl. U.S. officials allege that China’s chemical industry plays a key role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis by supplying most of the materials used in illicit drug labs, including in Mexico, which is now the largest exporter of fentanyl to the United States.
In the days following the agreement, a Chinese narcotics agency published a notice warning that companies that produce and sell chemicals that can be used to make fentanyl and other drugs could be prosecuted. And the United States trade restrictions reversed it had imposed measures against a Chinese government agency accused of committing human rights abuses in Xinjiang, which the Chinese saw as an obstacle to their cooperation.
The Treasury Department has also intensified its focus on Mexican cartels trafficking fentanyl. Last week, the United States coordinated with the Mexican government to impose sanctions on thirteen Mexican companies and three individuals linked to Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion.
The new team hopes that better coordination among experts within the US government will make it easier to monitor groups like CJNG
“The strike force will act quickly and decisively, together with top specialists from across the department, to nimbly respond to the latest threats,” said Brian Nelson, the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
During her trip this week, Ms. Yellen will also focus on strengthening economic ties with Mexico, which became the largest U.S. goods trading partner this year. The Biden administration views Mexico as a key part of its “friendshoring” policy, according to senior Treasury Department officials previewing the trip, and Ms. Yellen will discuss ways to include Mexico in the clean energy supply chain that the United States is trying to develop. .
Ana Swanson reporting contributed.