Political and financial circles in Mexico are on high alert after United States authorities issued a direct mandate to Mexican subsidiaries of foreign-capital banks, ordering an exhaustive investigation into the personal bank accounts and financial movements of seven sitting governors and their immediate families.
According to reports initially published by the political-financial investigative outlet Código Magenta, the U.S. Department of the Treasury is spearheading the probe. The operation aims to detect financial inconsistencies, money laundering, the use of shell companies, and the misappropriation of public funds.
The targeted state executives are mostly affiliated with Mexico’s ruling Morena party. They include Clara Brugada (Mexico City), Rocío Nahle (Veracruz), Layda Sansores (Campeche), Salomón Jara (Oaxaca), Margarita González Saravia (Morelos), Esteban Villegas (Durango), and Manolo Jiménez (Coahuila).
The U.S. federal instruction leverages binational banking regulations and the Bank Secrecy Act. To safeguard their trading licenses on Wall Street, global banking institutions operating in Mexico must comply, compelling them to submit Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR). These reports track unusual transactions, international transfers to tax havens, and assets registered under the names of relatives or frontmen.
This massive financial crackdown signals a shifting strategy by Washington amid heightened diplomatic and security tensions with Mexico. Rather than focusing solely on drug cartel kingpins, U.S. authorities are increasingly targeting elected political figures suspected of providing institutional protection or facilitating illicit operations.
This financial dragnet adds to prior U.S. investigations, including preventative asset freezing linked to former Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya, alongside ongoing inquiries into border-state governors Alfonso Durazo of Sonora and Américo Villarreal of Tamaulipas. Neither Mexico’s Ministry of Finance nor the implicated governors have issued official statements regarding the leaks.
Source: Sol Yucatan
