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Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel leader's mother-in-law sanctioned by U.S.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. is imposing sanctions on the mother-in-law of a Mexican drug lord because she allegedly concealed assets from a drug cartel's operations around the world.

Alejandra Araujo Uriarte is a Mexican national who was added to a list of specially designated narcotics traffickers. That's for her role in holding and hiding assets in her name on behalf of her son-in-law, Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno. He's a leader of the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.

The action on Thursday freezes her assets within U.S. jurisdictions and bans U.S. citizens from doing business with her.

The Treasury Department previously designated seven of Moreno's family members, including his wife. After that, Treasury says his wife began to transfer land to Moreno's mother-in-law in an attempt to hide the assets and evade sanctions.

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