Shearman & Sterling LLP
Issue link: https://digital.shearman.com/i/1422677
14 OFAC TARGETS NARCOTICS TRAFFICKERS & CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS On September 16, OFAC designated a Colombian family linked to a major international drug trafficking organization in Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia under the Kingpin Act. The matriarch, Zulma Maria Musso Torres, known as "La Patrona" or "La Señora," reportedly controls maritime corridors in Colombia, collecting taxes from narcotics traffickers in exchange for safe passage. OFAC also designated her sons, Washington Antunez Musso and Juan Carlos Reales Britto, and husband, Luis Antonio Mejia, and two entities controlled by her sons, Exclusive Import S.A.S. and Poligono Santa Marta S.A.S., for supporting her trafficking activities. On September 22, OFAC designated eight Mexican nationals and two entities connected to the Sinaloa Cartel. Chief among these designations is Mexican national Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela. Reportedly, Valenzuela Valenzuela is a Sinaloa Cartel plaza boss responsible for overseeing a major drug trafficking corridor in Mexico. According to OFAC, he reports directly to the Cartel's leader, Ismael Zambada Garcia, who was designated under the Kingpin Act in 2002. The Sinaloa Cartel is responsible for trafficking methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl from Mexico to the United States. Other members of the Cartel designated by OFAC include Leonardo Pineda Armenta, Valenzuela Valenzuela's righthand man, Gilberto Martinez Renteria, Jaime Humberto Gonzalez Higuera, Jorge Damian Roman Figueroa, Luis Alberto Carrillo Jimenez, Meliton Rochin Hurtado, and Miguel Raymundo Marrufo Cabrera. OFAC also designated two companies for being owned or controlled by Hurtado and Cabrera, Acuaindustria Narciso Mendoza, S.C. de R.L. de C.V. and Club Indios Rojos de Juarez, S.A. de C.V.