The only woman included in the US government’s new package of rewards targeting the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is neither a chief hitwoman nor a drug trafficking operative. She is an accountant accused of laundering money through a timeshare fraud scheme that has resulted in losses of at least $350 million and affected approximately 6,000 US victims.
She is Griselda Margarita Arredondo Pinzón, a native of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco; Washington is offering up to $2 million for information leading to her capture.
According to the US indictment, she coordinated the receipt and laundering of money flowing to the CJNG via a network of call centers dedicated to defrauding timeshare owners in Mexico.
The CJNG’s timeshare scheme did not originate within the cartel itself. Around 2012, a Mexican lawyer and businessman named Omar Aguirre Barragán—now deceased—taught the CJNG how to run the operation and sought their backing to oust rivals who were already conducting such schemes in Puerto Vallarta. Over time, the cartel took direct control of the business and eliminated Aguirre as an intermediary.
