The United States sanctions a network of 17 companies in Puerto Vallarta and Nayarit for fraud in timeshares linked to the Jalisco Cartel
The United States Department of the Treasury, by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), introduced this Thursday sanctions in opposition to the Kovay Gardens resort, in addition to 5 residents and 17 Mexican companies associated to a timeshare fraud ring allegedly linked to Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). The assertion broadcasts that, in accordance to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), roughly 6,000 American victims have reported losses of virtually $300 million between 2019 and 2023 due to timeshare fraud schemes in Mexico.
A timeshare is a trip possession mannequin the place you purchase the proper to use and take pleasure in lodging (lodge or condominium) for a particular interval of time per yr, usually one week, paying an preliminary value and annual upkeep charges. According to the statement issued by the US Governmentall properties or belongings of the sanctioned folks and companies, that are in the United States or in the possession of a citizen of that nation, are seized and have to be reported to OFAC. Additionally, the doc stipulates that any entity, group or firm that’s owned, immediately or not directly, individually or collectively, by 50% or extra, of these alleged events, are additionally frozen.
According to OFAC, the CJNG fraudulent network in Kovay Gardens has materialized by the complicated’s founder, Carlos Humberto Rivera Miramontes, who “has a long history of voluntary collaboration with drug traffickers.” He opened his vacationer middle greater than 20 years in the past and, in accordance to the accusation in opposition to him, he collaborates carefully with businessman Michael Ibarra Díaz Jr., additionally affiliated with that prison group., and who was identified as a facilitator of the sale of timeshares to American tourists and Canadians who’re subsequently defrauded.
The companies sanctioned by OFAC are the Administrator and Comercializadora del Mar, SA de CV, which offers totally different companies to Kovay Gardens, together with the lodge reservation course of. The doc additionally factors to Rivera Miramontes’ company network, made up of 13 companies: Punto 54, SA de CV and High Land Park, SA de CV, which declare to function in the tourism sector. Colinas Proyectos Y Construcciones, SA de CV, Ornitorrinco Inmobiliaria, SA de CV and VG Desarrollos De La Bahía, SA de CV, which function in the actual property sector. In addition, 4 companies in the monetary companies sector: Deep Blue Desarrollos, S. de RL de CV, Deep Blue Servicios, SA de CV, Gestión PVR, S. de RL de CV and Reef Gestión Avanzada, S. de RL de CV. This various company network additionally contains Asesoría y Servicios Importadores, SA de CV, the firm Corporativo Controlador Explora, SA de CV and a gasoline firm, Solugas Soluciones en Gasolineras, SA de CV
In a complementary method, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico, by the Financial Intelligence Unit, introduced this Thursday the incorporation of seven extra topics into the checklist of blocked folks: six people and one authorized entity, linked to the operational, household and company nucleus recognized throughout the investigation.
According to the OFAC assertion, for a long time, Mexican cartels have been attacking American homeowners of (*17*) by name facilities based mostly in the nation, staffed by teleoperators who converse fluent English. Starting in roughly 2012, the CJNG took management of this kind of scams in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, and in Bahía de Banderas, positioned on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, between the states of Jalisco and Nayarit, the place the Kovay Gardens resort is positioned.
‘Modus operandi’ of fraud
OFAC notes that by controlling a timeshare resort, CJNG can defraud its homeowners in a selection of methods from the second they signal a contract and for years. The indictment alleges that Kovay Gardens makes use of dishonest ways, resembling robocalls, in which it makes use of misleading gross sales practices to entice them. “Kovay Gardens falsely promises that its timeshare owners can generate income by renting unused weeks. In addition, it engages in other scams, such as systematically overcharging credit cards. Following these initial frauds, this resort shares its customer database with call centers controlled by the CJNG, which commit timeshare resale, re-rental and re-victimization frauds.
The investigation by OFAC, FBI and the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) reveals that the cartels obtain information on American timeshare owners in Mexico through accomplices at the same resorts. After that, members of organized crime, through their call centers, contact victims by phone or email and pose as brokers, lawyers or timeshare sales representatives based in the US, belonging to the industry that offers this type of services.
Fraud consists of the advance collection of additional commissions, fees or taxes so that beneficiaries can acquire or exit this scheme, either through investment, termination of the contract, resale or the option to rent a timeshare again before receiving the money that is supposedly owed to them. “This cash by no means arrives, and they’re always required to pay extra quantities to full the transactions. Generally, victims are instructed to ship the cash through worldwide financial institution transfers to accounts in Mexican banks and brokerage homes,” the document details.
On average, FinCEN receives approximately 40 suspicious activity reports each month associated with possible timeshare fraud, each averaging between $42,000 and $383,000.
CJNG, in control of Nayarit
OFAC additionally factors to Audias Flores Silva, alias The gardener and thought of a excessive command of the CJNG, as the major individual accountable for the timeshare fraud operations in Nayarit, whom OFAC previously sanctioned in June 2025. He has been acknowledged as a regional commander of Nemesio Oseguera, alias El Menchofrom different States resembling Zacatecas, Guerrero and Michoacán. According to the Treasury Department, it controls clandestine laboratories in these entities, used to produce methamphetamine and different illicit medication which might be trafficked to the neighboring nation to the north.
The doc particulars that Flores Silva’s lieutenants who acquire funds from the management rooms in Nayarit, together with these linked to Kovay Gardens, are Óscar Enrique Jiménez Tapia, alias Tagayas, and José Luis Gutiérrez Ochoa, alias Tolin. The latter, explains OFAC, has shut household ties with El Mencho, the prime chief of the CJNG. Tagayas’ subordinates are Jonathan Faustino Ríos González, alias Johnny Hoodand José Eduardo Palacios Rodríguez, who function the timeshare fraud management rooms for the aforementioned prison group.
