Mexican rapper sanctioned by Trump administration over alleged drug cartel ties
El Makabelico has been accused of laundering money for a cartel with revenue from concerts and streaming. The Donald Trump administration sanctioned the Mexican rapper (real name Ricardo Medrano) for allegedly being a “prominent associate” of Cartel del Noreste.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control claimed Makabelico, considered a “narco-rapper,” has worked with the organisation formerly known as Los Zetas, who are described as one of the “most violent drug trafficking organisations.” They claim he launders money and gives the organisation half of his streaming royalties.
The government said, “CDN depends on these alternative revenue streams and money laundering methods to boost their criminal enterprise, diversifying their income beyond criminal activity like drug trafficking, human smuggling, and extortion.”
The 34-year-old is accused of “being owned, controlled, or directed by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, CDN.”
The sanctions mean people in the United States won’t be allowed to do business with him. If the rules are broken, there could be civil and criminal penalties.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, “The Treasury Department will continue to be relentless in its effort to put America First by targeting terrorist drug cartels. These cartels poison Americans with fentanyl and conduct human smuggling operations along our southwest border.”
According to CBS News, Makabelico didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the sanctions.
Masked rapper Makabelico has over 3million monthly listeners on Spotify. His biggest song, ‘Equipado Pa La Guerra’, has over 83million streams, while ‘El Sobrino’ has 81million and ‘El Two Six’ has 71million.
On his social media pages, Makabelico has over a million Instagram followers, 1.3million TikTok followers, and 411,000 Facebook followers.