This address is linked to a Mexican money launderer famous for utilizing crypto to deliver drug earnings across the border.
The United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has revised its sanctions list by including ten persons linked to illicit narcotics trading. This includes one who owns an Ethereum wallet.
Treasury Links Ethereum Address with Illicit Transfer of Stablecoins
Mario Alberto Jimenez, known as ‘Kastor,’ supposedly owns the listed Ethereum addresses. He is a 34-year-old Mexican man linked to the Sinaloa cartel. Currently, this wallet contains only 0.017 ETH ($27). However, it has aided in stablecoin transfers, for instance, USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT) amounting to tens of thousands of dollars.
Incoming transfers from Coinbase, succeeded by outgoing transfers to Binance, comprise most of its transaction history. For instance, an October 2022 transfer involved sending 143965 USDT to Binance. In June, Coinbase and Binance, two of the globe’s most prominent exchanges, were sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The State Department’s website describes Jiminez Castro as a ‘money launderer’ managing a firm that used cryptocurrency to move fentanyl proceeds across the Mexican border. This includes Boston, New York City, Salt Lake City, Omaha, and Nashville.
Crypto Considered as Conduit of Selling Prohibited Fentanyl
The department claimed that since at least August 2022, he had instructed people to pick money from different traffickers in the United States and later deposit it into different cryptocurrency wallets managed by other senior members of the organization. United States politicians such as Elizabeth Warren, a crypto opponent, have criticized virtual currency for promoting the sale of Fentanyl. In 2019, the White House labelled major cryptos, for instance, Ethereum and Bitcoin, as the ‘major funding platforms linked to fentanyl trading.’
Jiminez Castro is part of the expanding list of crypto addresses banned by the government for involvement in criminal activities. Others include those linked to Lazarus Group in North Korea and those associated with crypto ‘mixers’ such as Tornado Cash. Crypto ‘mixers’ entail services and protocols that enhance transaction privacy, which makes them appealing to money launderers.
Despite the ability to utilize banned addresses, interaction with them is prohibited. It means crypto exchanges that interact with sanctioned addresses can face legal consequences.
SureTradeGroup.com is not responsible for the content, accuracy, quality, advertising, products or any other content posted on the site. Some of the content on this site is paid content that is not written or posted by our writers or editors and the opinions expressed do not reflect the opinions of this website. Any disagreement you may have with brands or companies mentioned in articles will need to be taken care of directly with those specific brands and companies. The responsibility of anyone who may click links in our articles and ultimately sign up for that product or service is their own. Forex, Stocks, Cryptocurrencies, NFTs and Dogital Tokens are all a high-risk asset, investing in them can lead to losses. Readers should do their own research before taking any action.