Daily Times

MEXICO CITY: A judge in Mexico ordered on Thursday that bank accounts linked to businesses owned by soccer star Rafa Marquez be unfrozen, following a designation in August by the U.S. government that the sportsman was linked to a suspected drug trafficker. Last month, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Marquez, who is one of Mexico’s best known athletes, along with more than 20 other Mexican citizens for suspected financial links to accused drug kingpin Raul Flores Hernandez. The move came after U.S. President Donald Trump promised to crush Mexico’s drug gangs, and the Treasury Department had described it as “the largest single Kingpin Act action against a Mexican drug cartel network that OFAC (the Office of Foreign Assets Control) has designated.” Marquez, who hails from the cartel-riddled state of Michoacan, has forcefully denied the accusations that he has ties to Hernandez, who is suspected of having links to the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation drug cartels. According to local media, Federal Judge Luz Maria Ortega issued the provisional order to unfreeze Marquez’s accounts. Marquez, 38, currently plays for Guadalajara-based pro soccer club Atlas. He played in Europe for club sides FC Barcelona and Monaco.

Published in Daily Times, September 30^th 2017.