The Trump administration identified three Mexican financial institutions that it says are complicit in laundering funds on behalf of criminal cartels that traffic fentanyl into the United States.

Two banks and one brokerage firm, which collectively manage $22 billion in assets, were identified by the Treasury Department on Wednesday as key players in the cartels’ fentanyl trafficking operations. The federal agency specifically accused the three institutions of laundering millions of dollars on behalf of the cartels and facilitating payments for the precursor chemicals for fentanyl, and now prohibits American financial institutions from carrying out certain transactions to and from the three Mexican institutions.

“Financial facilitators like CIBanco, Intercam, and Vector are enabling the poisoning of countless Americans by moving money on behalf of cartels, making them vital cogs in the fentanyl supply chain,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent charged.

“Through the first use of this powerful authority, today’s actions affirm Treasury’s commitment to using all tools at our disposal to counter the threat posed by criminal and terrorist organizations trafficking fentanyl and other narcotics.”

The Treasury Department specifically explained that a CIBanco employee authorized the creation of an account by a Gulf Cartel member who purportedly intended to launder $10 million. The executive agency also warned that the bank has a “long-standing pattern of associations, transactions, and provision of financial services” with the Gulf Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), and the Beltran-Leyva Cartel.

Intercam executives are believed to have met with CJNG members to discuss money laundering schemes, which included processing transactions to and from China. Mexican companies also used Intercam to send more than a million dollars to a Chinese company with ties to an individual who shipped fentanyl precursor chemicals to Mexico.

Vector is similarly believed to assist in the procurement of those precursor chemicals on behalf of both the Gulf and Sinaloa Cartels. The federal agency asserts that a money launderer working on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel moved $2 million through Vector from 2013 to 2021.

The move marks another step in the Treasury’s campaign to choke off funds from the criminal cartels. The agency has unveiled numerous sanctions against leaders and personnel from the Sinaloa Cartel, Tren de Aragua, and Cartel del Noreste.

“If the money is not flowing back south, then there’s less of an incentive to bring the drugs and the guns and some of the illicit activity up to the north,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender told The Daily Wire. 

Vice President JD Vance casually flipped the bird during his remarks at a Republican dinner in his home state of Ohio on Tuesday, jabbing at “pink-haired” protesters and adding with a smile, “I think it means we’re number one.”

Vance spoke at the sold-out event in Lima, and he spent the majority of his time laying out the “Trump Doctrine” and detailing the recent strikes on Iranian nuclear targets — but he did take a little time for levity.

WATCH:

🚨 LMAO! JD Vance throws up the MIDDLE FINGER live on TV

“In D.C., they have this thing where – I think it means we’re number one – all the pink-haired people throw up this sign… *throws up middle finger*”pic.twitter.com/m5oWcWX0p6

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 25, 2025

“In Washington, D.C., they have this thing where — I think it means we’re number one in Washington, D.C. — all the pink-haired people throw up this sign,” Vance then raised his middle finger to laughs from the audience. “And I think, you know, that means we’re number one, right? That’s — I choose to take that as that symbol in Washington … all kidding aside.”

Vance spent the rest of the time talking about the Trump administration’s military action against Iran’s nuclear program — which he described as a perfect example of the “Trump Doctrine” on foreign policy.

“What I call the Trump Doctrine is quite simple: Number one, you articulate a clear American interest and that’s, in this case, that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon. Number two, you try to aggressively diplomatically solve that problem,” Vance said, referencing the Trump administration’s efforts to bring Iran to the table before taking action. “And number three, when you can’t solve it diplomatically, you use overwhelming military power to solve it and then you get the hell out of there before it ever becomes a protracted conflict.”