Treasury Department Launches New Fentanyl Strike Force
The U.S. Department of the Treasury launched a new strike force to fight the flow of fentanyl into the United States. The goal is to better coordinate efforts targeting the finances of drug cartels, drug suppliers, and suppliers of the chemicals used to make the synthetic opioid that’s the leading cause of death for 18-45 year-olds in the United States.
The Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force aligns Treasury personnel, resources, intelligence, and expertise together in a “coordinated and streamlined operation.”
The new Strike Force is led by the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson and Chief James Lee of IRS-CI are co-chairs.
“Partnerships are key to the work we do at IRS Criminal Investigation, and we welcome the opportunity to partner with our Treasury counterparts to combat fentanyl – one of the deadliest narcotics plaguing our country,” said co-chair IRS-CI Chief Lee.
“On visits to the U.S. Southwest border this year, I saw firsthand how Treasury tools make a difference in disrupting the flow of illicit narcotics into the United States,” said co-chair Under Secretary Nelson. “The Strike Force will act quickly and decisively with the top specialists from across the Department to nimbly respond to the newest threats.”
Leveraging Unique Expertise
The Strike Force will leverage Treasury’s “core competencies and unique expertise in identifying and countering financial crimes” to disrupt those involved in the fentanyl trade.
That includes additional sanctions, working with Mexico and Canada as well as the private sector on intelligence and deterrents, and using financial intelligence to map criminal organizations.
In addition, the Strike Force will look for ways to disrupt money laundering nodes in fentanyl trafficking networks, especially those that rely on cryptocurrency, as well as strengthening partnerships to target violations of narcotics sanctions.
The Treasury Department is a key implementer of President Biden’s National Drug Control Strategy through its disruption of illicit finance.
The Department says it enacted sanctions against nearly 250 people and entities involved in drug trafficking, since President Biden issued his Executive Order on Imposing Sanctions on Foreign Persons Involved in the Global Illicit Drug Trade in December 2021.
Secretary Yellen in Mexico
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen headed to Mexico after the strike force announcement for a series of meetings with Mexican officials on ways the two countries can cooperate on financially disrupting drug traffickers.
While in Mexico, Secretary Yellen announced sanctions against 15 individuals and two entities linked to the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, a major supplier of fentanyl into the U.S.
“We cannot end the U.S. opioid crisis and achieve greater security without looking beyond our borders,” said Secretary Yellen, who was due to meet with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
The push for cooperation with Mexico comes a few weeks after President Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco.
At the meeting, China agreed to work with the U.S. to target stem the flow of precursor chemicals. Such chemicals are typically sent from China to Mexico, where they are mixed into fentanyl before being trafficked into the U.S.