"In coordination with US and Mexican law enforcement actions, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) identified Mexican national Raul Flores Hernandez and the Flores Drug Trafficking Organization (Flores DTO) as Significant Foreign Narcotics Traffickers pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act)," the release stated.
The individuals charged on Wednesday include members of Flores Hernandez’s family, and others who the Treasury Department said maintain his assets and facilitate other trafficking and money laundering activities.
They include a professional football player, Rafael Marquez Alvarez, and a singer, Julio Cesar Alvarez Montelongo, who the Department said have long-standing relationships with Flores Hernandez.
"Most of the entities designated today are registered in the Mexican state of Jalisco, although two are registered in the state of Sinaloa," the release noted.
The Mexican federal prosecutor’s office also seized Flores Hernandez’s assets throughout the country on Wednesday, including the Grand Casino in the Guadalajara area, Treasury said.
The Department said Flores Hernandez has operated independently since the 1980s but "maintains strategic alliances" with other Mexican drug cartel leaders, including the Sinaloa group.
In March, Flores Hernandez was indicted in the US state of California and Washington, DC on drug trafficking charges.
All of the sanctioned individuals and entities’ assets subject to US jurisdiction will be frozen and US persons are generally prohibited from doing business with them.