Leticia Ortiz Hernandez, mother of Serafin Zambada Ortizaka “The skinny” Already can dispose of the millions of pesos than in 2019 they were frozenafter handling large sums of money, which had a high degree of probability of coming from drug trafficking activities.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) unlocked the bank accounts of Leticia Ortiz Hernández, wife of the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ishmael “The May” Zambadaafter this same institution had frozen them, in December 2019.
The Collegiate Court in Criminal Matters ratified the decision of the district judge that ordered the lifting of the account of this couple from “Mayo” Zambada.
The magistrates pointed out that the FIU must justify its measures to freeze bank accounts very well, because otherwise “power would be left so that they can indiscriminately block all types of accounts under the simple mention that it is an organization whose purpose is the money laundering”.
For their part, the defense attorneys of Leticia Ortiz reported that the FIU blockades of the relatives of “Mayo” Zambada were made at the request of the Secretary of National Defense and Secretary of the Navybut without any documentation to support the existence of an express request to block accounts, formulated by a foreign authority or international organization with powers in the matter, and also with the competence to make such a request, supported by a treaty bilateral or multilateral.
However, according to the information collected by the FIU, Leticia Ortiz handled large sums of money, which had a high degree of probability of coming from drug trafficking activities and, therefore, of illicit origin.
In 2019, when the accounts of some relatives of “Mayo” were blocked, one of his sister, Ana Maria Zambada Garciaassured that she is a retired teacher and that the money in her blocked account came precisely from her pension of the ISSSTE. These statements also cast doubt on the FIU’s investigations, in the sense that they were probably resources of illicit origin (Of course, as it is very normal that they receive millions of pension).
Leticia Ortiz is the mother of the youngest son of “Mayo”, Serafín Zambada Ortiz, alias “El Flaco” and who was once prosecuted for alleged links to drug trafficking, but was released. And by the way, on April 25, “El Flaco” had a car accident in Caborca, Sonora, as a result of which his wife died and he was injured.
Leticia Ortiz is one of six wives of “Mayo” Zambada, since he, in an interview he gave to journalist Julio Scherer, revealed this detail of his intimate life, telling him “the six are here, in the ranches. Daughters of the mountain, like me”.
