WASHINGTON – The United States announced this Thursday sanctions against a Mexican hotel consortium located in Puerto Vallarta (west) for its alleged links with the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel (CJNG).
The measure applies to Kovay Gardens, “a Mexican timeshare resort, as well as five Mexican individuals and 17 Mexican companies associated with the network,” the Treasury Department statement explained.
“Many of these individuals and entities are based in or near Puerto Vallarta, a popular tourist destination that also serves as a strategic stronghold for the CJNG,” the text added.
According to the Treasury Department, numerous Americans, mainly retirees, were defrauded by this hotel consortium that offered timeshare vacations, but which were front companies for the cartel.
“For decades, Mexico-based cartels have targeted American timeshare owners through call centers in Mexico staffed by telemarketers who are fluent in English,” explains the statement, which states that the CJNG began taking over these telesales programs around 2012 in Puerto Vallarta.
Drug trafficking cartels often have parallel activities to launder their money or as alternative sources of income, such as migrant smuggling.
“Tourist properties”
The victims invested in timeshare resort properties that were actually frauds. They were even later contacted again by “consumer defense” organizations, also false, with the promise of defending their rights before the Mexican justice system.
Agencies such as the FBI began investigations starting in 2023, and about 6,000 victims reported scams amounting to about $300 million.
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control names as one of those sanctioned the founder of Kovay Garders, Carlos Humberto Rivera Miramontes, who created the resort 20 years ago under a different name.
The sanctions involve the blocking of any banking assets of these companies or individuals in the United States, as well as the prohibition of any transaction.
