The “Money Laundering Operations” of Los Chapitos, According to the U.S.

Over the past 14 months, U.S. authorities have focused their attention on the money laundering networks of the criminal organization known as “Los Chapitos” (or “Los Menores”)—a rival faction within the Sinaloa Cartel. In doing so, they have designated at least 18 of its members as operatives involved in both money laundering and facilitating the illicit trafficking and production of drugs, including fentanyl. Additionally, 29 companies were identified as being utilized to serve the nefarious interests of this criminal clan across cities in the Mexican states of Mexico, Baja California, Sinaloa, Jalisco, and Sonora.

These intelligence-driven and administrative actions—undertaken by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), an agency of the U.S. Department of the Treasury—are distinct from the operational efforts launched within Mexico to locate and apprehend the brothers Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar. As the sons of drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera and the leaders of the aforementioned group, the organization has suffered significant losses at every level—thereby weakening its structural integrity—since January 2023, when Ovidio Guzmán López (alias “El Ratón”) was arrested in Sinaloa.

The U.S. government considers “Los Chapitos” to be primarily responsible for controlling the laboratories where fentanyl pills are produced for trafficking to the United States; in recent times, they have emerged as a powerful and extremely violent faction. This led the U.S. Department of State to designate them as a Foreign Terrorist Organization—effective February 18, 2025—alongside other Mexican cartels and Salvadoran and Venezuelan gangs that pose a threat to U.S. national security.

The 18 alleged operatives were designated across three separate actions announced by OFAC in March, June, and October of 2025. A first group is reportedly led by an individual identified as Enrique Dann Esparragoza, who heads a money laundering organization and oversees several cells based in Mexicali, Baja California. Another cell is operated in Mazatlán by Víctor Manuel Barraza Pablos, who maintains ties to Zapopan, Jalisco, through real estate agencies and tourism companies. Meanwhile, a third scheme—based in Culiacán—is directed by members of the Favela López family, who control the importation and distribution of chemicals used to supply fentanyl laboratories.

On March 31 of last year, OFAC reported that Enrique Dann Esparragoza Rosas leads a money laundering organization and transfers illicit proceeds from drug trafficking from the United States to Mexico through a currency exchange arbitrage scheme, in which dollars are exchanged for Mexican pesos at currency exchange houses located along the U.S.-Mexico border—specifically between Imperial County, California, and Mexicali, Baja California.

Esparragoza’s clients include “Los Chapitos” and the rival faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, led by the descendants of drug trafficker Ismael “Mayo” Zambada García. The Department of the Treasury estimates that, as of April 2023, this network had laundered at least $16.5 million for Sinaloa Cartel clients through Tapgas México, S.A. de C.V., a company based in Culiacán. For their currency exchange operations, Los Chapitos utilized Alan Viramontes Sesteaga, who establishes shell companies and commercial representatives to coordinate large cash withdrawals on behalf of the organization.

The Mexicali-based money laundering operatives were identified as Salvador Díaz Rodríguez and Israel Daniel Páez Vargas. They fulfill distinct roles: Díaz is accused of engaging in contract killings and the violent extortion of “protection fees,” while Páez acts as a recruiter for the asset-laundering network of Alberto David Benguiat Jiménez. Both Díaz and Páez have been formally indicted—on the same date—before the United States District Court for the Southern District of California on charges of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, as well as conspiracy to import and distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl.

David Benguiat Jiménez operates a money laundering network from Mexico City that transfers illicit drug trafficking proceeds from the United States to Mexico on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel and drug trafficker José Ángel Rivera Zazueta—whom OFAC has designated as a fentanyl trafficker. The group is alleged to import chemical precursors from China to Mexico for the manufacture of synthetic drugs, including fentanyl, ecstasy, crystal methamphetamine, and ketamine. Benguiat also faces charges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California for the same offenses as Díaz and Páez, with allegations attributing to him the laundering of more than $50 million.

Another close associate within Benguiat’s laundering network is Christian Noé Amador Valenzuela, who has also been indicted for conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. The network employs a web of front companies and shell entities to conceal the origin of the funds it moves from the United States; these entities include Scatman and Hatman Corp, Personas Unidas Hoas, Grupo Zipfel de México, Grupo Unter Empresarial, Productions Pipo, and Grupo Vindende.

 WOMAN MOURNS ASSETS FREEZE

Another U.S. government operation was announced on June 9 targeting a major cell of “Los Chapitos” in Mazatlán, allegedly led by Víctor Manuel Barraza Pablos—the criminal group’s *jefe de plaza* (regional boss)—who directs the group’s violent and criminal activities in the region, including drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping, extortion, and fentanyl production. OFAC asserted that many of the illicit activities carried out by Barraza and Iván Archivaldo Guzmán are financed by Mexican businessman José Raúl Núñez Ríos, who appears to have amassed wealth rapidly.

The designation states that, beginning in 2021, Núñez acquired properties and established real estate development, construction, and hospitality companies in Mazatlán and throughout the state of Sinaloa—apparently to launder illicit drug trafficking proceeds—while forging an alliance with Los Chapitos; he currently finances Barraza’s war against the group’s rivals in Mazatlán. Núñez’s wife, Sheila Paola Urías Vázquez, was also designated; she is a Mazatlán-based makeup artist and the nominal owner of multiple entities, including a spa, a beauty salon, and various real estate and hospitality businesses.

Núñez and his wife allegedly operate these businesses in their own names; ten companies were sanctioned as a result: Beach y Marina; Club Playa Real; Proyecta Interna; Eco Campestres Ultra; IMB 24 Siete; Mue Renta y Venta de Vestidos; Carpe Diem Spa; Sea Wa Beach Club; and Comercializadora Copado. The U.S. government requested assistance from its Mexican counterpart, which subsequently froze the bank accounts of both businesspeople held at Santander, Banamex, Banorte, and Bancoppel, acting through the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) and the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV). On July 7, 2025, José Raúl Núñez Ríos filed an indirect *amparo* lawsuit before a federal court in Jalisco, challenging a verbal or written order—as well as its execution—to block, cancel, suspend, or revoke the petitioner’s bank accounts. In his written submission, the petitioner stated that he became aware of these events on June 16 of that same year:

“It so happened that while we were in this city of Zapopan, Jalisco—where my entire family resides, along with the family of my wife, Sheila Paola—she informed me that they had received several emails regarding account cancellations. She was distraught and weeping as she told me that our bank accounts had been blocked because we appeared on an alleged list maintained by OFAC.”

Núñez verified at various ATMs that he was unable to perform any transactions, as his accounts had indeed been blocked. He thus learned indirectly of the actions taken by the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) and the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), which had placed him—along with his family members—on the List of Blocked Persons (LPB) without ever having notified him of “the specific motive, cause, or reason for which the petitioner’s bank accounts were blocked, canceled, suspended, or revoked.” José Raúl also filed a separate *amparo* petition challenging a potential arrest warrant issued against him.

THE FAVELAS IN CULIACÁN

On October 6, 2025, the Office of Foreign Assets Control expanded the designation issued in May 2023 against the company Sumilab, S.A. de C.V. and the Favela López family for their alleged involvement in the supply and shipment of chemical precursors to members and associates of the Sinaloa Cartel. The designated individuals are the siblings Víctor Andrés, Francisco, Jorge Luis, and María Gabriela—all bearing the surname Favela López—as well as María Gabriela’s husband, Jairo Verdugo Araujo, and Gilberto Gallardo García, who is married to another Favela sister.

Although the Favela López family removed signage bearing the company’s name from their premises following Sumilab’s inclusion on the sanctions list in 2023, they continued to engage in the supply of chemical precursors for fentanyl production on behalf of the “Chapitos” faction of the Sinaloa Cartel; specifically, Víctor Andrés, Francisco, and Jorge Luis distributed chemicals and laboratory equipment to intermediaries and laboratory operators affiliated with the criminal organization who produce fentanyl and methamphetamine. Furthermore, these chemicals are sold to companies in the United States, where they are synthesized to produce illicit drugs that are ultimately sold to American customers.

In addition to Sumilab, the Favela López family operates a network of companies involved in chemicals, laboratory equipment, and agriculture—including seven entities that were sanctioned last October: Agrolaren; Distribuidora de Productores y Servicios Viand; Favelab; Favela Pro (which operates as Fagalab); Qui Lab; and Storelab. Following the 2023 designation, several family members attempted to distance themselves from various commercial firms within their network by utilizing front persons, such as César Elías López Araujo, the owner of the laboratory equipment company Importaciones y Nacional Marcerlab. Both individuals were subsequently sanctioned. OFAC also sanctioned Martha Emilia Conde Uraga—known as “Martita”—a longtime chemical broker affiliated with the Sinaloa Cartel who operates out of various warehouses in Culiacán and its surrounding areas. Through fraudulent invoicing and other methods of concealment, Conde Uraga supplies chemical precursors to drug traffickers and laboratory operators working for the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.

According to the Department of the Treasury, Conde Uraga and her family utilize front persons and manage several Mexico-based companies sanctioned today, including the chemical and industrial cleaning firms Comercial Viosma del Noroeste and Prolimph Químicos en General; Proveedora de Servicios de Salud Mental del Pacífico; and Roco del Pacifico Inmobiliaria.

Source: Zeta Tijuana