U.S. Treasury Sanctions El 03 and 50+ CJNG Individuals/Entities in Largest-Ever Action Against the Cartel

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned more than 50 individuals and entities linked to CJNG on July 23, 2026 — described by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as the largest action ever taken against the cartel. The designation formally named Juan Carlos Valencia González ('El 03'/'El Pelón'), El Mencho's stepson, as CJNG's confirmed leader, alongside re-designations of Audias Flores Silva ('El Jardinero'), César Alejandro Villaseñor Olivares ('El Güero Conta'), and roughly 20 other named CJNG members and financial facilitators including Gabriel Serrano Magaña, José Octaviano García Martínez, Gerardo Botello Rozález, and Feliciano Ledezma Ramírez. The action froze U.S.-jurisdiction assets tied to more than a dozen front companies, including Petrocoda, Stella Servicios Comerciales y Empresariales, El Almacén Licorería, Tequilera El Origen del Tequila, Hurrari Kash, and Agropecuaria Amateq. Bessent: 'The measure of today affects the leadership, financiers and criminal networks of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, depriving it of resources used to traffic fentanyl, terrorize communities and threaten American lives.'