(Tribune News Service) — Standing alongside local and federal law enforcement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday morning announced major steps to combat the opioid crisis, including sanctions taken against several people affiliated with a Mexican criminal organization officials say is known for trafficking fentanyl and other drugs into the United States and Georgia.

Speaking at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building in downtown Atlanta, Yellen said the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control had sanctioned eight people associated with La Nueva Familia Michoacana, a violent cartel that has started to produce the drug across several cities in Mexico in recent years. In many cases, its members force people to enter the United States illegally and sell the drugs under threat to their lives and families, officials said, noting that metro Atlanta has been a big hub for them.

“The leaders we’re targeting have carried out heinous acts, from controlling drug routes, to arms trafficking, to money laundering, to murder. Two of those designated have been indicted by courts here in Georgia, including on charges of heroin conspiracy and money laundering,” Yellen said. “Our sanctions will cut off the cartel leaders from their ill-gotten money and make it harder for them to bring deadly fentanyl to our streets.”

Yellen also detailed a new advisory issued by the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network that provides information and guidance to U.S. financial institutions, so they can identity and report financial transitions of material used to make fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

By letting regional and local banks share that information, Yellen said, the department will be able to track illegal drug money and go after criminals profiting from it. The effort will expand to 10 cities across the United States by the end of this year.

Typically, major cartels rely on shell companies to launder and store their profits, officials said. The Corporate Transparency Act, which went into effect in January, requires many companies to report who owns or controls them, which helps to combat “illicit finance.”

“Our work with partners and at home is rooted in the understanding that cartels that peddle fentanyl operate in many respects like other businesses: They rely on access to banking systems and to the U.S. dollar to make payroll and finance purchases,” Yellen said. “This means the Treasury Department has a unique ability to disrupt and degrade their operations. We’re particularly focused on two areas related to today’s actions: sanctions and partnerships with financial institutions.”

President Joe Biden has made the opioid crisis a priority after drug overdose deaths related to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids have skyrocketed in recent years. More than 1 million people have died of drug overdoses across the U.S. since 2022, most related to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

“Combatting the trafficking of fentanyl is a significant challenge. It will not be solved overnight,” Yellen said. “But let me be clear: The president and I will do everything we can to combat this crisis.”

In Georgia, overdose deaths involving fentanyl increased 200% between 2019 to 2021, Yellen said. She called those numbers “staggering, almost unimaginable.” Last year, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found that Georgia prisoners are increasingly dying from using all manner of drugs, including meth and fentanyl.

But Yellen said strides have been made.

In the past two years, law enforcement has seized more fentanyl at ports of entry than the previous five years combined, officials said. Gov. Brian Kemp recently signed a bill into law making naloxone, an opioid-reversal drug, more readily available in schools and government buildings. Yellen also launched the Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force last year, which uses the Treasury’s expertise to help fight financial crime.

Outside of the U.S., an effort has been made to strengthen cooperation with China, a key source of the chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl. Yellen said a collaboration with Mexico was also “crucial,” and stressed the importance of sharing information with financial institutions on both sides of the border. Other Mexican cartels targeted by the U.S. law enforcement in recent months included CJNG and Sinaloa Cartel.

Thursday’s visit was Yellen’s second to Atlanta this year. In March, she toured a solar cell manufacturing plant in Norcross to highlight the Biden administration’s clean energy policies.

©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Visit at ajc.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.