The Mexican soccer star Rafael Márquez and several of his businesses have acted as fronts and held assets for a major drug trafficking organization, according to the United States Treasury Department.
On Wednesday, Márquez, who plays for the Mexican club Atlas and has represented Mexico at the last four World Cups, was placed on a Specially Designated Nationals list by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Márquez’s soccer school, his charitable foundation and 21 other individuals and 41 entities were added to the list by the Treasury Department; all were accused of providing support to, or being under the control of, another Mexican national, Raul Flores Hernandez, and what the department called the “Flores drug trafficking organization.