Mexico to ask US to return funds seized from drug lord 'Mayo' Zambada

MEXICO CITY

Mexico will ask the United States to return money and assets seized from former Mexican drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday.

Zambada, a longtime leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn federal court to drug trafficking charges. As part of a plea agreement, he accepted a $15 billion forfeiture money judgment.

President Sheinbaum argued that those funds should be handed over to the Mexican people, especially the poor, as compensation for the damage inflicted by Zambada’s criminal enterprise.

“If resources have been seized, we will obviously request them, because of the harm caused to the Mexican population. And they should be distributed to the people -- to the most humble,” she said. “That’s why there’s an Institute to Return Stolen Goods to the People.”

She noted, however, that US authorities have not shared any specific information about Zambada’s case or the funds agreed upon in the plea deal.

“What we have right now, through the Financial Intelligence Unit, is coordination --mainly between Mexico’s Finance Ministry and the US Department of the Treasury --on matters related to money laundering,” she said.

Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Civilian Protection, Omar Garcia Harfuch, said that Zambada still has open arrest warrants in Mexico while underscoring that the money demanded by the US Justice Department has nothing to do with Mexico.

“'El Mayo' Zambada has arrest warrants in Mexico. He is under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office, along with several individuals connected to him. However, that estimate of money -- that specifically comes from the United States, not from us.”

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) later released a statement on the US social media company X’s platform.

“Sinaloa Cartel co-founder, Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada Garcia, operated in MX with impunity using violence, bribery & intimidation to grow an empire destined to destroy lives. DEA is as relentless as he was ruthless & will continue to dismantle drug networks. #SinaloaCrackdown2025,” it said.