The U.S. Treasury Department has identified large groups linked to the criminal enterprise of Joaquín Guzmán Loera’s heirs, including the surnames Guzmán, Núñez, Marín, Favela, and Zamudio. The investments range from towers…
The multi-million dollar synthetic drug business attributed to Los Chapitos isn’t built on a single family name. To produce fentanyl and methamphetamine and launder their profits into the formal economy, the heirs of Joaquín Guzmán Loera—the brothers Iván, Alfredo, Ovidio, and Joaquín Guzmán—relied on various families from Sinaloa who operated as suppliers of chemical precursors and money launderers. In this report, we expand on the information released by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, but there could be many more such structures.
Over the past two decades, the Guzmán family, along with the Núñez, Marín, Favela, and Zamudio families, built a legal business network encompassing real estate developments, construction companies, hotels, agricultural businesses, cryptocurrency platforms, chemical and pharmaceutical firms, gas stations, and retail businesses distributed across several cities in the states of Sinaloa, Sonora, Jalisco, and Baja California. The members of these families form a vast network of individuals and companies sanctioned between 2012 and 2025 by OFAC, a result that was coordinated on several occasions with the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Mexican government.
In the last 13 years, authorities have sanctioned 59 individuals and 37 companies linked to this faction.
For this investigation, the individuals and legal entities identified by OFAC were traced in public records and official databases, which allowed the identification of another 35 companies related to the network, although these haven’t been sanctioned by the authority.
Despite the accusations, only six companies have been officially dissolved; others closed their establishments, changed their names, and even moved their headquarters to other cities. Approximately 10 companies and individuals from different families obtained official permits, such as construction licenses to build condominium towers, subdivisions, residential homes, plazas, and commercial premises in cities in Sinaloa and Baja California.
It was also found that at least 16 blacklisted companies were suppliers to the governments of Sinaloa, Baja California, and Sonora, as well as the federal government. In addition, some received government production subsidies such as tractors and tons of seeds.
Each of the families played a key role in the criminal structure. Some provided the inputs for drug production, others acted as intermediaries to transfer money from the United States to Mexico, and some invested in large-scale real estate projects. The objective was to convert illicit money into seemingly legitimate capital.
The Núñez family and the real estate boom
Facing the Pacific Ocean, right on the beach, stands Grand Sunset, a 19-story tower that promises luxury and exclusivity. The apartments are offered starting at 4,711,000 pesos and include a swimming pool, controlled access to the beach, a gym, and a movie theater. The building is one of the financial ventures of José Raúl Núñez Ríos and his family in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, a tourist destination experiencing rapid real estate development marked by the construction of hundreds of towers.
Núñez Ríos began acquiring his companies at the end of 2020, according to public records. He bought and renovated two old hotels, built two condominium towers, and founded a real estate company. His businesses are diverse: a school with preschool and elementary levels, an advertising agency, a cryptocurrency club, a formal wear store, among others.
In the 16 companies traced for this investigation, Núñez Ríos shares ownership with his mother and father, an uncle, his two brothers, his wife, and his sister-in-law.
The boom, however, was short-lived. At the end of September 2024, at the beginning of the internal split within the Sinaloa Cartel, small planes flew over the state’s main cities and dropped leaflets with the names of 19 people allegedly linked to Los Chapitos. Among them were Núñez Ríos and his wife. The leaflets linked them to Víctor Manuel Barraza Pablos, alias El 40, the alleged head of the drug cartel in Mazatlán.
A month after the flyers were distributed, Núñez Ríos and his family formally withdrew from their businesses. On the same day, November 25, 2024, the Núñez family gratuitously transferred the rights to their shares in at least eight companies to various individuals and family members. Collectively, the transferred shares represent a capital of 12,575,700 pesos.
Six months later, a more serious accusation followed. On June 9, 2025, OFAC accused Núñez Ríos of collaborating with Iván Guzmán Salazar.
The Marín González brothers: cell phones and food
Arturo D’Artagnan and Porthos Marín González, the youngest members of the financial network, barely in their twenties, were accused of implementing a classic money laundering mechanism known as the Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE).
The brothers, named after characters from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, acted as a kind of brokers or facilitators for drug traffickers. In the United States, they received the cash dollars that the traffickers had obtained from the sale of drug shipments. With that money, they bought cell phones from American companies that exported the devices to Sinaloa, Sonora, and Quintana Roo. Once in Mexico, the Marín family and their partners used the three Smart Depot stores, as well as Celulandia Taller & Store. After the merchandise was sold, the money in Mexican pesos was handed over to the traffickers.
On March 22, 2024, OFAC sanctioned the Marín González brothers, their sister-in-law Adilene, and her brother, Iván Robledo Arredondo, accusing them of the money laundering scheme involving the cell phone stores, two fast-food businesses, and two clothing stores.
After being flagged by the authorities, the Bufaluss and Dulce Volcano food businesses changed their names, image, and location, but maintained the same concept. Currently, in addition to the businesses in Culiacán, they have a stall inside a food park in Tijuana, Baja California.
The Zamudio family and the super-labs
The Zamudio Lerma family network is one of the largest linked to Los Chapitos. Between February and July 2023, the Treasury Department blacklisted five brothers: Ángel Guillermo, Daniel, Jorge Alberto, Ludim, and Luis Alfonso Zamudio Lerma, as well as the son of one of them, Ludim Zamudio Ibarra.
According to OFAC, the Zamudios operated as suppliers of chemical precursors used in super-laboratories for synthetic drugs, facilities capable of producing up to four kilograms of narcotics per manufacturing cycle.
Although it is unclear when the family ventured into the drug business, it’s possible to trace the origins of their business network. Most of their companies were established in the 1990s and early 2000s, and encompass sectors such as real estate, construction, sale of building materials, auto parts, and gas stations.
For this investigation, 13 companies linked to the family were identified. In this structure, the brothers share ownership with their parents, wives, and children. The Zamudio family owns two shopping centers in high-value areas in Culiacán. In addition, they obtained municipal licenses to build and remodel three houses, two commercial premises, and two warehouses. Between 2019 and 2022, one of their gas stations supplied fuel to various departments of the Sinaloa state government and the Culiacán city council.
Following the OFAC sanctions, some members of the family have challenged the account freezes ordered by the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) in court. Recently, the brothers obtained injunctions and judicial stays that allowed them to halt the freezing of their assets.
The Favela family, government suppliers
The Favela brothers, Jorge Luis, Francisco, and Víctor Andrés, built a business network that operated on two fronts: on the one hand, they supplied laboratory materials and chemical products to public institutions; on the other hand, they supplied the same materials to the laboratories of Los Chapitos. In May 2023, authorities detected that Sumilab, the family company, was supplying chemical precursors to the faction, although at that time none of the Favela family members were directly identified. That identification came later. In October 2025, OFAC blacklisted the three brothers and their brother-in-law, Verdugo Araujo, in addition to 12 companies they owned.
According to authorities, after the initial bulletin in 2023, the family abandoned several of the companies and transferred their shares to alleged front men. They also removed the exterior logo from Sumilab’s headquarters. However, investigations indicate that the family maintained its involvement in the fentanyl production business.
Sources: El Universal, Cartel Insider Archives
Discover more from Cartel Insider
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
