CARLOS ANDRES RIVERA VARELA

Carlos Andres Rivera Varela is an alleged high-ranking leader of Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a major transnational cartel and designated foreign terrorist organization based in Mexico. Rivera Varela and others allegedly directed an international complex fraud scheme targeting American timeshare owners in Mexico. Over the past decade, this operation allegedly laundered hundreds of millions in alternative revenue to finance CJNG’s drug and weapons trade. Rivera Varela is also an alleged leader of elite sicario hitmen units responsible for extreme violence and high-profile assassinations with access to military-grade weaponry. On October 28, 2025, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Rivera Varela in the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn, New York, after he was charged with Money Laundering Conspiracy and Providing Material Support, Attempting to Provide Material Support, and Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to a Foreign Terrorist Organization.