A dual U.S.-Mexican citizen pleaded guilty on March 12 to wilfully engaging in financial dealings with Mexican companies that had been identified as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
According to court documents, Jessica Johanna Oseguera Gonzalez, 34, of Guadalajara, Mexico, violated the criminal penalties of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (the Kingpin Act) by engaging in property transactions with six Mexican businesses that OFAC previously designated to be “specially designated narcotics traffickers.” These six businesses were so designated because they provided material support to the Mexican drug trafficking organization known as the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), which was itself designated by OFAC in April 2015. Oseguera Gonzalez’s father, Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho,” who is the leader of CJNG, and her uncle, Abigael Gonzalez Valencia, who is the leader of the Los Cuinis drug trafficking organization, were also sanctioned by OFAC in April 2015.
Court documents indicate that Oseguera Gonzalez was an owner of two Mexican companies designated by OFAC, J&P Advertising S.A. de C.V., and JJGON S.P.R. de R.L. de C.V., and that she was an officer, director, or agent of four additional sanctioned businesses, Las Flores Cabanas, Mizu Sushi Lounge, Tequila Onze Black, and Operadora Los Famosos S.A. de C.V., doing business as Kenzo Sushi. She remained an owner, officer, director, or agent of those entities following their OFAC designations, and did not seek the required license from OFAC to engage in those financial transactions.
Oseguera Gonzalez pleaded guilty to willfully violating the Kingpin Act’s prohibitions on engaging in transactions or dealings in property with entities or persons sanctioned under the Kingpin Act, and to being an officer, director, or agent of entities who knowingly participated in Kingpin Act violations. She is scheduled to be sentenced on June 11 and faces a maximum penalty of up to 30 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Read more at the Department of Justice
