The US Treasury Department this week sanctioned a number of casinos, restaurants and their owners in Mexico, accusing them of alleged money laundering on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel. In total, they claim that these betting houses helped launder two million dollars from 2017 to 2024; which led the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to issue a warning on 10 casinos while the Office of Foreign Assets Control fined 20 companies and 7 individuals. Of these, most belong to the Hysa family, a group of Albanian businessmen who “used their influence or control over their investments in Mexico to launder the proceeds of drug trafficking”, already identified years ago for their links to criminal groups.
According to US statements, the “Hysa Organized Crime Group” includes Luftar Hysa, Arben Hysa, Ramiz Hysa, Fatos Hysa, Fabjon Hysa and Eselda Baku-Hysa and “is believed to have operated with the consent of the Sinaloa Cartel,” which maintains control of much of the territory where this group has carried out its activities. The 10 identified casinos 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 betting houses in Mexico over alleged money laundering and links to organized crime.
Luftar, who lives between Mexico and Canada, is the family’s leader and has given interviews about his family’s activities in Mexico and Europe. “Luftar, Fatos, Arben, and Fabjon worked closely with a U.S. citizen to launder money, including moving large amounts of money from Mexico to the United States, where they used this citizen’s company to launder the funds,” the statements read. “Luftar and Arben enriched themselves with the funds of alleged drug traffickers thanks to European companies; furthermore, Luftar is the owner of several companies used by this group.”
Luftar’s name first came to light in late 2022. Subsequently, several media outlets published that the Mexican government was investigating whether Ismael May Zambada, then one of the leaders of the now divided Sinaloa cartel, had allied himself with the Albanian mafia precisely to launder millions of dollars with trade and investments on the Mexican coasts. These crimes allegedly occurred at a series of Hysa family casinos.
Luftar then sent a letter to the Albanian media and held a press conference. In them, in addition to denying any link with organized crime, he provides some information on how and when they arrived in Mexico. He emigrated from Albania in 1997 and arrived in Mexico in 2004, when an Australian friend told them that the casino market was opening up in Mexico. It coincides with President Vicente Fox’s six-year term, when gambling in casinos and betting houses was legalized. His family lives in Canada, where he resides, but he has Mexican nationality. He claims to have more than 10 businesses in Mexico, including bars, restaurants and casinos.
On those dates, the Albanian press published some photographs of Luftar leaving the office in Tirana of the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama; which the opposition took advantage of to accuse him of links to Mexican organized crime. “It is truly disgusting that an Albanian family can be crucified with a simple piece of paper,” Rama declared at the time.
In Canada, Luftar has also had problems with the law for its alleged relationships with organized crime. In October 2023, the newspaper La Presse posted that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was investigating him for his role in the Magic Palace casino in Kahnawake, an Iroquois indigenous reserve south of Quebec City.
“Everything indicates that Luftar Hysa infiltrated the Kahnawake indigenous reserve to facilitate money laundering activities on behalf of the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, as well as for his own benefit,” reads a declaration filed before the Canadian justice system. It describes Luftar as an international money launderer based in Quebec who often travels between Montreal, Mexico and Europe.
The sources of The Press They assure that the Albanian authorities have asked for the help of their Canadian counterparts to investigate him, stating that he is suspected of being part of a criminal group dedicated to laundering money from criminal activities in Mexico, Canada, Panama, Poland and Albania” and that he owns more than 30 casinos and restaurants spread across these countries.
The same article states that the Canadian Center for the Analysis of Financial Transactions and Reports warned in March 2023 about possible money laundering activities by Luftar. According to what was published, he received hundreds of millions of dollars from Mexico, which he then distributed in small sums, as well as having sent, in less than a year, 28 million dollars to various accounts in Albania, Mexico, the United Kingdom, the United States and Italy.
