US Targets Mexico’s Hysa Casino Network in Cartel Money Laundering Crackdown

Posted on: November 14, 2025, 09:31h. 

Last updated on: November 14, 2025, 09:38h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.
  • US targets Hysa cartel casinos for large laundering operations
  • Mexico and US coordinate crackdown on Sinaloa financial networks
  • Offshore fronts used to mask casino-based laundering schemes

The US government has sanctioned an Albanian-born Mexican casino owner for his alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel.

Hysa cartel, Sinaloa cartel, Mexico casinos, money laundering, US sanctions
Luftar Hysa, above, during an appearance on Albanian TV show “Opinion” where he denied having cartel links. He and his family were collectively described as “the Hysa Organized Crime Group” by the US Treasury Department on Thursday. (Image: RTV Klan)

Luftar Hysa was one of 27 individuals and entities named Thursday by the US Treasury Department in a coordinated action to disrupt transnational laundering networks.

Hysa also has connections to Canada and once owned a stake in Magic Palace Casino Montreal.

The Hysa network is linked to a group of at least 10 casinos throughout Mexico that are of “primary money-laundering concern,” according to the Treasury Department. These include the brands Emine, Mirage, Midas, Palermo, and Skampa.

The sanctions come 24 hours after the Mexican government announced it froze the bank accounts of 13 casinos in Mexico over alleged ties to organized crime.

US Pressure

The move followed a joint investigation between Mexican authorities and the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum has been under pressure from the US to declaw the Sinaloa cartel and its affiliates, along with other drug trafficking syndicates. The US Department of Homeland Security estimates that Mexican cartels “control approximately 70% of the foreign narcotics flow into the United States.”

“This collaboration will strengthen Mexico’s capabilities to prevent, detect, and dismantle the transnational financial structures of criminal groups and their money laundering activities,” said the country’s Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch at a news conference on Wednesday.

Cartel Cash

US authorities say the Hysa Organized Crime Group (HOCG), which includes family members Arben Hysa, Ramiz Hysa, Fatos Hysa, and Fabjon Hysa, “has used its influence through its investments in, or control over, various Mexico-based businesses –including gambling establishments and restaurants – to launder the proceeds of narcotics trafficking.

The Sinaloa Cartel controls or influences much of the territory in which the Hysa group operates.

According to Grisel Galeano, chief federal tax prosecutor of Mexico, the money laundering model involved using stolen or borrowed identities to make it look as though ordinary people suddenly won huge amounts of money in casinos. Those “winnings” were actually cartel cash being cleaned and moved across borders.

Mexico has 5,256 casinos, with most located in Mexico City and the states of Yucatán and Nuevo León.