Alert takes aim at ‘fiscal fuel theft’ over schemes by Mexican transnational smuggling groups

Fiscal fuel theft – otherwise known as fuel smuggling – is targeted in an alert issued Tuesday by Treasury’s financial crimes enforcement unit to combat Mexican tax evasion through smuggling of U.S. fuel, the agency said.

The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said the alert advises financial institutions to be vigilant in uncovering and reporting suspicious activity related to the fuel smuggling. It points to actions connected to the firm Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) and “other Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations smuggling fuel from the U.S. into Mexico.”

“FinCEN’s Alert provides an overview of methodologies and financial typologies associated with these fiscal fuel theft schemes; highlights red flag indicators; and reminds financial institutions of their reporting requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA),” the agency said in a release.

The alert, FinCEN said, was issued with an Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions action against two Mexican nationals and nine entities tied to CJNG’s fuel smuggling schemes.

FinCEN Issues Supplemental Alert on Fuel Smuggling and Tax Evasion Schemes on the Southern Border Associated with Mexico-Based Cartels