US targets Los Chapitos money laundering network in Mazatlán run by a businessman and a makeup artist

They appeared to be two young people flush with success. He, a promising businessman with several real estate and hotel businesses, dedicated to managing investments in the worlds of entertainment and hospitality. She, an ambitious entrepreneur in the makeup industry with her own party dress store and the owner of a luxury spa. Last Monday, the bubble of ostentation burst when the Treasury Department published their names on its sanctions list for facilitating the Los Chapitos criminal network, as well details of all their companies involved in the drug money laundering network in Mazatlán, Sinaloa. José Raúl Núñez Ríos and Sheila Paola Urías Vásquez are in the sights of U.S. authorities for their involvement with the Sinaloa Cartel.

The facade of successful businesspeople began to crumble when the U.S. Treasury Department noticed that Núñez was amassing his fortune at a suspicious rate. The 44-year-old lawyer, born in Rosario, Sinaloa, founded his first company in late 2019, before the Covid pandemic: Grupo 247 Real Estate, dedicated to the construction and sale of properties. On social media, he promoted real estate investment opportunities near the coasts and beaches of Mazatlán. “Imagine the house of your dreams facing the sea, listening to the waves, watching the sunrise. All this is possible by investing in property in the Playa Brujas Subdivision. Contact us, we will make your dreams come true,” read his first posts.

His wife, Sheila Paola Urías Vásquez, 31, is a well-known figure in Mazatlán for her work as a makeup artist on social media. Urías started a YouTube channel in 2017, where she showcased her makeup skills in tutorials. In less than a year, she opened a beauty salon and spa offering massages and esthetic treatments. She cut the red ribbon on the premises accompanied by her family, including her sister Melissa, who was a candidate for local representative for the Green Party at just 24 years old. Urías herself lent her face, covered in clay masks, to advertise the establishment’s services. Soon, the salon was being frequented by models and influencers, such as Sinaloa beauty queen Pety Juárez.

The married couple managed to acquire or establish up to a dozen companies for their network in the space of just six years. Most of them were related to real estate development, but also to the world of fashion and beauty and the hospitality industry. Ten of these companies have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for their links to the Sinaloa Cartel. U.S. authorities claim that Núñez finances the operations of Víctor Manuel Barraza Pablos, the Los Chapitos underboss in Mazatlán. They also accuse him of being a “close associate” of Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, one of the fugitive sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Núñez and Urías’ companies play a specific role in each part of the real estate development chain, from the acquisition of lots, obtaining construction materials, and selling or renting them through real estate agencies or using a marketing agency to promote them. In 2024, Urías registered Bloquera Real MX, a company dedicated to manufacturing and selling blocks, partitions, and bricks. However, neither this company nor the real estate company Ocean Plus, of which she was administrator in 2024, appear on the preliminary list of those sanctioned by the United States. In 2020, Núñez acquired the construction company Proyecta Interna, created the previous year. This company had permits to develop, sell, or lease real estate, as did Grupo 247 and Beach and Marina.

Luis Pérez de Acha, a lawyer specializing in money laundering, explains that the real estate sector is very attractive because it requires large investments. “The challenge lies in how cash is incorporated into the financial system. It’s used as a front system, but money laundering involves real transactions that pay taxes,” the specialist points out, also highlighting the suitability of the real estate boom Mazatlán has experienced over the past five years, providing the perfect breeding ground. Furthermore, Mexico allows a cash limit of up to 907,000 pesos (a little over $48,000) for the purchase of real estate, a sizeable amount the origin of which is difficult to trace.

In real estate development, there are several ways to incorporate illicit money into the financial flow, where it is mixed with legal funds to obscure its origin. Payments for land, materials, architect’s fees, or labor can all be made in cash. Construction companies routinely use cash in most transactions, from the beginning to the end of the sector’s chain, according to Salvador Díaz de León, a money laundering prevention specialist. “You have the real estate agency, the developer, the materials supplier, the transportation company, and you have a human resources company for the labor force. There’s a chain of related companies that allow for laundering,” he explains.

Among Núñez and Urías’ companies were also businesses dedicated to the hospitality industry, especially beach clubs. In these establishments, it is easier to simulate legitimate operations by inflating sales figures or increasing invoices. One of these was the Sea Wa Beach Club, established in 2024 and licensed not only to operate a bar, a restaurant, and fishing as a tourist activity, but also for rental cabins, bungalows, and tourist apartments. Núñez was also the legal representative of the company Club Playa Real, established in 2000, in which he later became involved. As with Beach and Marina or Comercializadora Copado (an import-export company), these companies were registered several years before Núñez and Urías joined as representatives. Hernández indicates that it is common in money laundering schemes to “reactivate” previously created entities, as they have a legitimate operational and financial history that helps them to pass under the radar.

In addition to the beach clubs, Urías owned a party dress shop, available for purchase or rent for special occasions. The store is on the corner of the Grupo 247 Real Estate offices, where luxury cars were frequently parked. Urías only appeared publicly at this shop and the spa; she appears as a temporary manager or shareholder in the other companies. “Assigning anyone as a front or figurehead takes the spotlight off the owner and puts it on someone who doesn’t pull the strings. It allows another individual to remain in the shadows. It’s a shielding strategy to protect oneself,” Hernández points out.

Both Pérez de Acha and Hernández agree that the change in U.S. policy toward Mexican drug cartels, now considered as terrorist organizations, has ignited the hunt for financial facilitators for criminals. However, the Sinaloa Cartel has countless resources to weave complex money laundering networks with the advice of high-profile lawyers and accountants, both inside and outside Mexico. Following the U.S. Treasury Department’s announcement, it is now the turn of Mexican financial institutions to notify the Financial Intelligence Unit about these companies so that they may be brought under scrutiny by the authorities. For now, their assets and properties in the United States are frozen.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition