Albanians laundering cartel money through Mexican casinos? The federal government thinks so.
The new sanctions come one day after the Mexican government suspended more than a dozen casinos over money laundering concerns.
The United States government on Thursday sanctioned twenty-seven people and organizations believed to be involved in an international conspiracy to launder drug money through various businesses in northern Mexico. Money laundering is the practice of moving money made illegally into seemingly legitimate businesses to disguise the true source of the funds.
The chief target of the new sanctions is the Albanian-linked Hysa Organized Crime Group. Its leader, Luftar Hysa, is accused of laundering cash for narco traffickers through several casinos and high-end restaurants he owns in Mexico. U.S. officials believe Hysa acts in collaboration with the Sinaloa Cartel.
The move by the U.S. to cut off the Hysa group’s financial assets comes one day after the Mexican government shut down 13 casinos in the country suspected of laundering money.
Beyond casinos, members of the Hysa group are also alleged to be working with a “U.S. person’s company” to smuggle large amounts of cash from Mexico into the United States.
In addition to the sanctions, carried out by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, U.S. officials said the federal government’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is also seeking to exclude 10 Mexican casinos from accessing the U.S. financial system.
“Our message to those supporting the cartels is clear: They will be held accountable,” said Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley.
The suspected link between the Hysa family and cartels in Mexico has been a long time coming. In 2023, well-known Mexican newspaper El Universal reported that Mexican intelligence authorities believed the Albanian business family was linked to notorious Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael Zambada, known as “El Mayo,” who was arrested and arraigned in a federal court in Brooklyn in 2024.
The Hysa family, however, denied any links with El Mayo.
What is certain, however, is the close ties between the Hysa group and Albania, which is still listed as each sanctioned member’s nationality. The Office of Foreign Assets Control omitted this fact in its initial public-facing sanctions designation announcement.
Relations between the Trump administration and Albania’s ruling socialist party are perhaps lukewarm. Recent reporting from the New York Times revealed Albania’s conservative opposition Democratic Party paid more than $1.6 million to Trump aides for assistance in a national election in May. The party ultimately lost, despite the hands-on help of U.S. Republican strategist Chris LaCivita.
It is not clear whether the relations between the U.S. and Albania played a role in how the sanctions against the Hysa group were portrayed to the public today. For now, the more than two dozen individuals and entities tied to this alleged money laundering racket are facing financial isolation from American banks and customers. The challenge for the U.S.—as with most of its economic sanctions—is preventing those they target from finding a workaround.