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Associated Press

Legendary Mexican soccer player Rafael Marquez Alvarez and a well-known norteno band leader are among 22 people sanctioned for alleged ties to a drug trafficking organisation, the United States Treasury announced on Wednesday.
The Treasury said in a statement that it will also sanction 43 entities in Mexico, including a soccer team and casino.
The sanctions are the result of a multi-year investigation of the drug trafficking organisation allegedly headed by Raul Flores Hernandez.
It is the single largest such designation of a drug trafficking organisation ever by its Office of Foreign Assets Control, the statement said.
Marquez is a former Barcelona and New York Red Bulls star who currently plays for the Mexican soccer club Atlas in Guadalajara and is captain of the Mexican national team.
Messages left for Marquez’s agent Enrique Nieto seeking comment were not immediately answered.
Flores Hernandez allegedly operated independently in the northern city of Guadalajara, but maintained alliances with the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.
The Mexican Attorney General’s Office also seized related assets, including the Grand Casino near Guadalajara, according to the Treasury statement.
“Raul Flores Hernandez has operated for decades because of his longstanding relationships with other drug cartels and his use of financial front persons to mask his investments of illegal drug proceeds,” OFAC director John E. Smith said in the statement.
Federal drug trafficking indictments against Flores Hernandez were returned in March in Washington and the southern district of California.
The US government referred to Marquez and norteno singer Julio Cesar Alvarez, better known as Julion Alvarez, as people with longstanding relationships with Flores Hernandez, who “have acted as front persons for him and his (drug trafficking organisation) and held assets on their behalf.”
The sanctions freeze all US assets of the people and entities named and forbid US citizens from doing business with them.


Soccer star Rafael Marquez among 22 sanctioned for Mexican drug cartel links

Mexico defender Rafael Marquez has been described as a ‘front person’ for a major drug trafficking organisation. Photo: AFP

(FILES) This file photo taken on June 23, 2014 shows Mexico's defender Rafael Marquez celebrating after scoring during a Group A football match between Croatia and Mexico at the Pernambuco Arena in Recife during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The US Treasury on August 9, 2017 accused Rafael Marquez, captain of Mexico's national football team and a former FC Barcelona player, of being a "front person" for a major drug trafficking organization. Marquez was one of 22 people and 43 entities the US Treasury placed on a sanctions list in relation to a Guadalajara-based drug trafficking cartel controlled by one Raul Flores Hernandez. / AFP PHOTO / YURI CORTEZ

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National team captain placed on a sanctions list after suspected links to gangs are discovered


Soccer star Rafael Marquez among 22 sanctioned for Mexican drug cartel links

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}National team captain placed on a sanctions list after suspected links to gangs are discovered

National team captain placed on a sanctions list after suspected links to gangs are discovered