YouTube shuts down ‘El Makabélico’ account after US Treasury sanction; he had 2 million followers

YouTube closed the official account of Ricardo Hernández Medrano, alias El Makabélico, after the Treasury Department’s anti-money laundering unit blacklisted him for laundering assets for the Cartel del Noreste.

“YouTube is committed to complying with applicable laws, including US sanctions laws under our Terms of Service policies. In accordance with these policies, we have closed the YouTube channels associated with the sanctions announced today by the US Department of the Treasury,” said a YouTube spokesperson after being contacted about the matter.

Now, the caption “This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with it has been closed” is the only trace left on the rapper’s official channel, who was included in the sanction along with three prominent leaders of the criminal network.

YouTube stated that, in parallel, it closed all channels directly linked to the musician.

“We have shut down the channels associated with Ricardo Hernández Medrano, known by his stage name El Makabelico, following the announcement by the United States Department of the Treasury,” the video platform said.