Baja California security contracts face review after OFAC sanctions

ZETA Tijuana reported that companies headed by Tijuana businessman Marco Antonio Moreno Gómez Santelices received 42 public contracts in Baja California while being designated by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Sept. 29, 2026. OFAC said the network of security, real-estate and entertainment businesses provided or attempted to provide financial, material or technological support to the Sinaloa Cartel and people linked to its La Mayiza faction.

According to ZETA Tijuana, two companies identified in the report—Inteliproof Efficient and Private Equity Baja—received contracts from the state prosecutor's office, the state government and municipalities including Tijuana, Tecate and Playas de Rosarito. The report said Inteliproof alone received 40 contracts, while the two companies collected 139,021,187.95 pesos from 2021 onward. The contracts included patrol vehicles, facial-recognition software, uniforms, body armor and other security equipment.

The newspaper also described a federal and state response after the OFAC action. Mexico's Finance Ministry, through its Financial Intelligence Unit, formally listed 21 individuals and 25 legal entities associated with the networks on Sept. 29, according to the report. Baja California officials said Oct. 1 that they would review the companies' prior contracts and refer any irregularities to oversight authorities. Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda said the contracts had been made when no prior sanction or legal impediment was known and that the review should rely on documents rather than assumptions. The allegations and sanctions described here are attributed to OFAC and the source report; they are not presented as findings by this publication.