The U.S. Treasury Department this week sanctioned a series of Mexican casinos, restaurants and their operators for allegedly laundering money for the Sinaloa Cartel. They allege that these gambling companies helped launder a total of $2 million from 2017 to 2024. As a result, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued warnings to 10 casinos, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 20 companies and seven individuals. The majority of these belong to the Haisa family, a group of Albanian businessmen who “used their influence and control over investments in Mexico to launder the proceeds of drug trafficking” and whose ties to criminal organizations had already been identified years ago.
According to the U.S. statement, the “Haysa Organized Crime Group,” which includes Luftar Haiza, Albén Haiza, Ramiz Haiza, Fatos Haiza, Fabillon Haiza, and Ecelda Bakhisa, is “believed to have operated with the consent of the Sinaloa Cartel,” which maintains control over most of the areas in which it operated. The 10 casinos identified are located in the states of Sinaloa, Tabasco, Baja California and Sonora, and their names were made public a day after the Mexican government froze the bank accounts of 13 gambling establishments in the country due to suspected money laundering and ties to organized crime.
Mr. Luftar, who lives between Mexico and Canada, is the family leader and has given interviews about his family’s businesses in Mexico and Europe. “Mr. Luftar, Mr. Fatos, Mr. Erben, and Mr. Favision worked closely with a U.S. national to launder money, transferring large sums of cash from Mexico to the United States, where they used the national’s company to launder the money,” the statement said. “Luftar and Erben have used European companies to line their pockets with funds from suspected drug traffickers. Additionally, Luftar is the owner of several companies used by the group.”
Luftar’s name was first revealed at the end of 2022. Several media outlets subsequently reported that the Mexican government was investigating Ismael’s name. May Zambada, one of the leaders of the then-split Sinaloa cartel, was allied with the Albanian mafia to launder millions of dollars from businesses and investments on the Mexican coast. These crimes are said to have occurred at a series of casinos owned by the Haissa family.
Luftar then sent a letter to Albanian media and held a press conference. In it, in addition to denying any ties to organized crime, he gave some insight into when and how they arrived in Mexico. He immigrated from Albania in 1997 and arrived in Mexico in 2004. At that time, a friend from Australia told me that the casino market was opening up in Mexico. This coincides with President Vicente Fox’s six-year term, during which gambling in casinos and gambling halls was legalized. Although his family lives in Canada and he is domiciled there, he holds Mexican nationality. He claims to own more than 10 businesses in Mexico, including bars, restaurants and casinos.
On this day, Albanian media published several photos of Luftar leaving Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s office in Tirana. Opposition parties took advantage of this, accusing him of ties to organized crime in Mexico. “It is a terrible thing that an Albanian family can be crucified with a piece of paper,” Rama declared at the time.
Luftar is also in trouble with the law in Canada, where he is suspected of having ties to organized crime. Newspaper for October 2023 La Presse The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced they were investigating him for his role at the Magic Palace casino in Kahnawake, an Iroquois Indian reserve south of Quebec City.
“Everything indicates that Luftar Haiza infiltrated the Kahnawake Indian Reserve on behalf of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and in furtherance of money laundering activities for his own benefit,” said a statement filed with Canada’s judiciary. The document describes Luftar as an international money launderer based in Quebec who frequently travels between Montreal, Mexico and Europe.
sauce le press They said that Albanian authorities have asked Canadian authorities to help investigate him and that he is suspected of being part of a criminal group that specializes in laundering money from criminal activities in Mexico, Canada, Panama, Poland and Albania, where he has established more than 30 casinos and restaurants.
The same article states that Canada’s Center for Financial Transactions and Reporting Analysis warned in March 2023 of possible money laundering activities by Luftar. According to the disclosure, he received hundreds of millions of dollars in remittances from Mexico, distributed them in small portions, and within a year sent $28 million to different accounts in Albania, Mexico, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Italy.
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