US sanctions Mexican banks, alleging connections to cartel money laundering

The Treasury Department building in Washington, DC [File: Alex Brandon/The Associated Press]

The United States has imposed sanctions on three Mexican banks, alleging they had been used to launder money for drug cartels.

On Wednesday, the US Department of the Treasury tied the banks – CIBanco, Intercam Banco and Vector Casa de Bolsa – to the cross-border trafficking of the deadly synthetic drug fentanyl.