Mexican Cartels Are Using Casinos, to Launder Fentanyl Proceedings In the U.S.

For many years, drug cartels in Mexico have used the United States as not only its main market for fentanyl trafficking, but also to launder their profits.

According to a recent report, the Sinaloa cartel and the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) use casinos in the U.S. to launder profits from drug trafficking and other illegal businesses. Financial institutions estimated that last year alone at least $1.4 billion in transactions were linked to these two criminal organizations.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released a financial trend analysis identifying fentanyl-related illicit transactions tied to Mexico's two largest cartels. The report said that, between January and December 2024, financial institutions filed nearly 1,300 suspicious activity reports related to the purchase of precursor chemicals, fentanyl trafficking and money laundering.

In its 2024 report, FinCEN revealed that 89% of suspicious activity reports related to fentanyl came from depository institutions or money services businesses. An additional 3% involved suspected money laundering in casinos or card clubs, often flagged based on negative media coverage linked to the individuals involved.

Mexico, as well as China, are the top two foreign countries identified in the reports. In Mexico's case, geographic trends highlight the states of Sinaloa and Jalisco, strongholds for both cartels, were the top two destinations identified in subject address fields related to fentanyl reports.

The method for laundering money and sending it back to Mexico—typically as payment for fentanyl sales to the cartels—ranges from small wire transfers to physically transporting cash across the U.S.-Mexico border and even international trade-based money laundering schemes.

But according to documents obtained by MILENIO, the relationship between Mexican cartels and Chinese businesses involved in the fentanyl supply chain goes beyond the sale of just precursor chemicals.

The report also revealed that cartels and associated chemical brokers use front companies, money mules and U.S.-based intermediaries to purchase fentanyl precursor chemicals from Chinese-based suppliers.

Chinese businesses have allegedly used international trade to launder money. Court records describe small cells of about 20 people operating under the control of cartels. These groups reportedly offer millions of dollars in cash to intermediaries in China, who then seek out business owners that have purchased goods in the United States.

In exchange for covering the full cost of those goods, the intermediaries ask the business owners to deposit the money—now effectively laundered—into accounts controlled by Mexican or Colombian cartels. The scheme not only cleans the money but allows the goods to be resold, leaving behind minimal traces of the laundering operation.