US companies and individuals have been prohibited from doing business with Mexican oil company ADT Petroservicios, and the company’s U.S. assets have been frozen due to owner Francisco Antonio Colorado Cessa’s alleged links to the Los Zetas drug-trafficking cartel.
Cessa is in U.S. custody and is awaiting trial on charges of money laundering.
"By exposing this business of Francisco Antonio Colorado Cessa, which is tied to the violent Los Zetas group, we are depriving their organization of an avenue to launder their illicit proceeds," Adam Szubin, director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control, said in a statement carried by U.S. news agencies.
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Cessa was charged along with 13 others in a Texas federal court with money laundering for Los Zetas in a horse-trading scheme.
The Treasury Department’s sanctions come on the heels of the wounding of two CIA agents last week in Mexico City, when Mexican federal police ambushed the agents, spraying their armored van will bullets. The vehicle bore diplomatic plates and U.S. officials believe the attack was deliberate and will have severe consequences for U.S.-Mexican cooperation in the fight against drug cartels.
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