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A Mexican woman, the partner of one of the leaders of the criminal organization Los Cuinis, pleaded guilty this Tuesday in federal court to intentionally violating sanctions established against her by the U.S. government by paying her son's tuition at an educational center in the country with money derived from drug trafficking.
Wendy Dalaithy Amaral Arévalo, 45, the partner of Gerardo González Valencia, one of the ringleaders of Los Cuinis, paid more than half a million dollars in tuition contracts with the sports training center IMG Academy for her son to study there.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) explained in a statement that Amaral Arévalo had been sanctioned by the Department of the Treasury due to her collaboration with the international drug trafficking activities of Los Cuinis, a drug cartel also sanctioned and closely linked to the Mexican Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
The sanction prohibited the Mexican woman from carrying out transactions or business within the U.S. financial system. However, Amaral Arévalo signed contracts with the IMG Academy, located in Florida, for her son to attend the school and managed payments totaling $504,497.
Tysen Duva, a prosecutor in the DOJ's Criminal Division, explained in a statement that the indictment and guilty plea were achieved thanks to the implementation of the Kingpin Act, which aims to prevent foreign drug traffickers, their businesses, and their operatives from carrying out transactions within the U.S. financial system, and prohibits them from using U.S. institutions to receive or transfer drug money.
For his part, Terrance C. Cole, an administrator for the DEA, said that the case of Amaral Arévalo exposes “the calculated audacity and sophisticated reach” of cartel financial networks operating within the United States.
Amaral Arévalo faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10 million fine. The sentence will be handed down on December 2.
Last February, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced a $1.72 million settlement that the IMG Academy must pay for entering into annual tuition contracts with individuals sanctioned for their ties to a sanctioned Mexican drug cartel.
González Valencia, who was legally married to Amaral Arévalo, was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to distribute large quantities of cocaine for the purpose of importing it into the United States.
For its part, the CJNG was designated in February 2025 by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization, the DOJ highlighted.
[Publicidad]