The Treasury Department on Tuesday targeted seven people and 11 businesses connected to Colombian drug cartel, freezing their assets.
Tuesday’s action from Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) focused on La Oficina de Envigado, a Colombian organization allegedly involved in narcotics trafficking, money laundering, extortion and murder for hire, according to OFAC.
{mosads}The agency labeled Colombian national Jose Bayron Piedrahita Ceballos and several family members and associates as “specifically designated narcotics traffickers,” which could lead to millions of dollars in fines and years in prison.
“Jose Bayron Piedrahita Ceballos is a long-time supporter of drug cartels, including the Cali and North Valle cartels, and now La Oficina de Envigado,” said John E. Smith, acting OFAC director. “Today’s action strips Piedrahita Ceballos of his commercial legitimacy and is the seventh designation in OFAC’s continuing strategy to systematically dismantle La Oficina by targeting its leaders and financial and support networks.”
More than 28,000 people died from heroin and prescription painkiller overdoses in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a record number.
In March, the Senate approved $600 million in emergency funding to fight the epidemic in a 94-1 vote.