The U.S. decision to apply the counter-terrorism framework to drug cartels has created a new compliance reality for financial institutions and global companies with operations, suppliers, or counterparties across Latin America.
In this episode of Inside the Signal with Sigma360, Sigma360 Founder and CEO Stuart Jones Jr. speaks with Ray Donovan, founder and CEO of Stack21 Solutions and former Chief of Operations at the DEA. Drawing on a career that spans the U.S. Border Patrol, the DEA’s New York Division and Special Operations Division, and oversight of the capture and prosecution of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Ray explains what has actually changed in the eighteen months since eight cartels were designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
Key takeaways:
- Understand how FTO and SDGT designation introduces material support liability, expanded forfeiture authority, and secondary sanctions pressure that ordinary narcotics designations never carried.
- Learn why civil exposure under the Anti-Terrorism Act, as amended by JASTA, is the risk most firms still underestimate.
- Explore why territorial exposure, beneficial ownership, and third-party relationships matter more than name-matching against a designation list.
- Recognize why open-source intelligence combined with regional subject matter expertise surfaces risk well before it appears on any list.
- Identify practical steps for firms operating in cartel-affected geographies, including supplier and agent diligence, escalation procedures, and how to approach extortion exposure.
Key timestamps:
- 00:00 — Introduction and guest welcome
- 02:30 — Stack21 and the move to the private side
- 05:00 — What’s actually changed since the TCO designations
- 10:00 — What firms should be doing now
- 13:30 — Why OSINT and subject matter expertise matter
- 16:30 — Continuous monitoring and network risk
- 18:00 — What to watch going forward
This discussion is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Music: “Minimalist (Neutral Focus)” by Sascha Ende (ende.app), licensed under CC BY 4.0.
