The U.S. financial intelligence unit proposed Thursday to categorize payments involving any one of a group of 10 casinos in Mexico as a "class of transactions" that constitute a "primary money-laundering concern[s]" under the Patriot Act.
If implemented, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's notice of proposed rulemaking would formally bar banks in the U.S. from providing correspondent services to any foreign bank that handles funds for the group, which consists of four brick-and-mortar casinos in Sinaloa, three in Sonora, two in Baja California and one in Tabasco.
"Based on non-public information available to FinCEN, for over six years, the gambling establishments' senior leadership has conducted transactions ... under the instruction of Sinaloa cartel members and affiliates," the bureau explained in the 47-page NPRM.
FinCEN published the NPRM in coordination with the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which simultaneously blacklisted more than 20 individuals and entities in Mexico and Canada after linking them to the Sinaloa cartel.
- Topics: Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Finance of Terrorism
- Source: U.S.: FinCEN
- Document Date: November 13, 2025
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