By: Jennie Taer, Daily Caller News Foundation
The Biden administration’s Treasury Department has sanctioned several individuals and entities in China and Mexico that are supporting the fentanyl crisis in the U.S., it said in a statement on Tuesday.
The sanctions are levied against seven entities and six individuals based in China and one entity and three individuals based in Mexico, according to the Treasury Department. The U.S. has recently seen a surge in fentanyl deaths, with roughly 110,000 in 2022, according to preliminary Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.
The sanctions targeted Youli Technology Development Co., Ltd. (尤里科技发展有限公司) (Youli) along with three Youli-affiliated Chinese nationals, Guo Chunyan (郭春艳), Guo Yunnian (郭运年), and Guo Ruiguang (郭瑞光), all located in Huizhou, China, for supplying pill presses to individuals in the U.S., according to the Treasury Department.
The Treasury Department also slapped sanctions on Mexican individuals Mario Ernesto Martinez Trevizo (Martinez), Cinthia Adriana Rodriguez Almeida (Rodriguez) and Ernesto Alonso Macias Trevizo (Macias). Martinez managed a pill press operation in Mexico, which Macias also worked for, with ties to the notorious Sinaloa cartel and worked with Yason electronics, which supplied pill presses and molds for counterfeit pills. Rodriguez held a senior position with a pill press supplier also tied to Yason electronics.
“Treasury’s sanctions target every stage of the deadly supply chain fueling the surge in fentanyl poisonings and deaths across the country,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in the sanctions announcement. “Counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl constitute a leading cause of these deaths, devastating thousands of American families each year. We remain committed to using all authorities against enablers of illicit drug production to disrupt this deadly global production and counter the threat posed by these drugs.”
The sanctions also targeted Tdpmolds, an online business controlled by Zhao Dongdong (赵冬冬) (Zhao), a Chinese national in Yantai, China., Chinese nationals and entities Zhao, Pan Hao (潘昊) (Pan), Yantai Yixun International Trade Co., Ltd. (烟台易迅国际贸易有限公司) (Yantai Yixun) and Yantai Mei Xun Trade Co., Ltd. (烟台美讯商贸有限公司) (Yantai Mei Xun).
Tdpmolds supplied pill presses and dies for counterfeit pill production operations in the U.S., according to the Treasury Department. Pan sold some of Tdpmolds’ products in 2019 and 2020 to U.S. counterfeit pill manufacturers, and Yantai Yixun provided equipment to U.S. manufacturers of scheduled drugs.
Related Story: China is Selling Mexican Drug Cartels ‘Industrial Pill Press Equipment’ to Manufacture Fentanyl, DHS Official Says
