The Treasury Department late last month sanctioned Enrique Dann Esparragoza Rosas for allegedly operating a money laundering organization that transferred millions of dollars in illicit narcotics proceeds on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel’s warring factions: “Los Chapitos” and “La Mayiza.”
A Kharon investigation into Esparragoza’s sanctioned company, Tapgas Mexico S.A. de C.V., and its current ownership revealed a broader network of stakeholders that are not sanctioned, associated IT companies and commercial relationships across Mexico and the United States.
Esparragoza’s designation followed an alert by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control warning of heightened exposure risks from transnational drug cartels, like Sinaloa, that the Trump administration recently designated as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs).
Esparragoza’s network illustrates those risks in practice.
BACKDROP: Cartels are the focal point of the Trump administration’s efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking. The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Financial Trend Analysis earlier this month that identified approximately $1.4 billion in suspicious transactions connected to fentanyl-related illicit finance through analysis of more than 1,200 Bank Secrecy Act reports filed in 2024.
“Fentanyl traffickers are exploiting every possible financial vector, from traditional banking and cash-based activities to cryptocurrencies and sophisticated trade-based laundering schemes,” the report said.
INSIDE THE NETWORK: According to a LinkedIn account and archived versions of the company’s website, Tapgas Mexico is an IT services firm based in Culiacán, Sinaloa, that planned to develop an app for requesting gas services and connecting users to local gas providers.
Social media accounts indicate that Tapgas shares an address with another Culiacán-based startup. From its founding in 2018 until 2021, Esparragoza was the majority owner and manager of this entity, Grupo ADHOC TI, S.A. de C.V. According to its website, ADHOC is a “digital agency specialized in supporting entrepreneurs in the incubation of their businesses and the acquisition of their first clients.”
Mexican corporate records show that some of SDN Tapgas’s shareholders still hold minority stakes in ADHOC. Efrain Rochin, a minority shareholder and the treasurer of Tapgas, also serves as ADHOC's current chief technology officer.
A Kharon investigation into Esparragoza’s sanctioned company, Tapgas Mexico S.A. de C.V., and its current ownership revealed a broader network of stakeholders that are not sanctioned, associated IT companies and commercial relationships across Mexico and the United States.
Esparragoza’s designation followed an alert by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control warning of heightened exposure risks from transnational drug cartels, like Sinaloa, that the Trump administration recently designated as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs).
Esparragoza’s network illustrates those risks in practice.
BACKDROP: Cartels are the focal point of the Trump administration’s efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking. The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Financial Trend Analysis earlier this month that identified approximately $1.4 billion in suspicious transactions connected to fentanyl-related illicit finance through analysis of more than 1,200 Bank Secrecy Act reports filed in 2024.
“Fentanyl traffickers are exploiting every possible financial vector, from traditional banking and cash-based activities to cryptocurrencies and sophisticated trade-based laundering schemes,” the report said.
INSIDE THE NETWORK: According to a LinkedIn account and archived versions of the company’s website, Tapgas Mexico is an IT services firm based in Culiacán, Sinaloa, that planned to develop an app for requesting gas services and connecting users to local gas providers.
Social media accounts indicate that Tapgas shares an address with another Culiacán-based startup. From its founding in 2018 until 2021, Esparragoza was the majority owner and manager of this entity, Grupo ADHOC TI, S.A. de C.V. According to its website, ADHOC is a “digital agency specialized in supporting entrepreneurs in the incubation of their businesses and the acquisition of their first clients.”
Mexican corporate records show that some of SDN Tapgas’s shareholders still hold minority stakes in ADHOC. Efrain Rochin, a minority shareholder and the treasurer of Tapgas, also serves as ADHOC's current chief technology officer.
Kharon users can explore this Insight in greater detail through the ClearView platform.
U.S. TIES: ADHOC’s clients span multiple industries in Mexico, from a Sinaloa-based department store to a budget Mexican airline. According to its website, ADHOC also developed an app for a U.S.-based foods manufacturer.
Two of ADHOC’s and Tapgas’s key figures have connections to a San Francisco tech startup whose website says it focuses on “open source scheduling infrastructure.” The social media accounts of Omar Fernando López Olivas, based in Sinaloa and formerly a senior software developer at SDN Tapgas, say he now leads software engineering at the Bay Area firm.
Two of ADHOC’s and Tapgas’s key figures have connections to a San Francisco tech startup whose website says it focuses on “open source scheduling infrastructure.” The social media accounts of Omar Fernando López Olivas, based in Sinaloa and formerly a senior software developer at SDN Tapgas, say he now leads software engineering at the Bay Area firm.
Kharon users can explore this Insight in greater detail through the ClearView platform.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Drug cartels like Sinaloa have often extensive, sometimes obscured business connections, including to entities that might look innocuous at first glance.
Esparragoza’s network is a reminder that, especially in areas where cartels are most active, businesses will need to dig deeper to unearth possible exposure risks as the Trump administration cracks down.
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Esparragoza’s network is a reminder that, especially in areas where cartels are most active, businesses will need to dig deeper to unearth possible exposure risks as the Trump administration cracks down.
Insights break down a Kharon investigation and why it matters, in 3 minutes or less.
More Kharon Insights:
