FinCEN: Mexican Drug Cartels, Chinese Networks Targeting Casinos
Posted on: September 8, 2025, 10:22h.
Last updated on: September 8, 2025, 10:28h.
- FinCEN says casinos continue to be targeted to launder money
- Chinese money laundering networks and Mexican drug cartels are colluding to wash dirty money
The US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is urging financial institutions that handle large volumes of cash, including tribal and commercial casinos, to be vigilant in detecting suspected money laundering activities from Mexico-based drug cartels and Chinese money laundering networks (CMLNs).
FinCEN, tasked with safeguarding the United States’ financial system from illicit activity like money laundering and the financing of terrorism, reports that casinos continue to be prime targets for illegal money movement.
In an advisory on Mexico transnational criminal organizations and CMLNs, FinCEN disclosed that casinos filed 4,645 Suspicious Activity Reports related to CMLNs and Mexico drug cartels between Jan. 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2024. The total amount of the suspicious money moved inside casinos totaled approximately $1 billion.
Government financial regulators say CMLNs are professional money launderers who are heavily utilized by Mexican drug cartels to launder their dirty drug money clean in the United States. FinCEN explains that the relationship is driven by laws passed by the Government of Mexico, which restricts large amounts of US cash from being deposited into the Mexican financial system in an attempt to curb drug cartels, and the People’s Republic of China’s currency laws that limit how much money Chinese people can transfer abroad.
Casinos Doing Their Part
FinCEN says most CMLNs are Chinese individuals who have residency status in the US. Many are thought to be Chinese students studying in the US.
“US-based CMLNs may sell US dollars purchased from Mexico-based drug cartels through advertisements on social media or by leveraging personal networks involving Chinese citizens and/or businesses seeking to evade the PRC’s currency control laws. Ultimately, Chinese citizens’ demand for large quantities of US dollars and the cartels’ need to launder their illicit US dollar proceeds has resulted in a mutualistic relationship wherein the cartels sell off their illicitly obtained US dollars to CMLNs who, in turn, sell the US dollars to Chinese citizens seeking to evade China’s currency control laws,” the FinCEN advisory read.
The FinCEN report detailed one suspected CMLN individual who was the subject of 87 Bank Secrecy Act reports over the four years, with 85 of the filings being completed by casinos. The person of interest moved $22 million in suspicious transactions, with the individual not reporting a job or the financial resources to warrant such a cash flow.
The FinCEN report specified that the individual regularly engaged in suspicious gaming practices, including chip walking, or the act of buying gaming chips but not gambling them. The person on the 87 reports has been the subject of suspicious activity filings dating back to at least 2007.
Red Flag Indicators
FinCEN is warning banks to be on the lookout for customers presenting Chinese passports as identification who regularly receive funds via wires and transfers that are not commensurate with their reported occupation, and the source of the funds cannot be attributed to a legitimate source of income.
FinCEN says casinos should be on the lookout for several red flags that might hint that a person is attempting to launder money. They include when a customer reports being a student and is reluctant to provide information about their source of funds.
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