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Rafael Márquez’s life just became a lot more difficult.
On Wednesday, the United States Treasury Department accused Márquez, the captain of Mexico’s national soccer team, and several businesses connected to him of acting as fronts and holding assets for a major drug trafficking organization. The designation — Márquez was placed on the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) list of so-called Specially Designated Nationals — had immediate effects on Marquez personally, among them the freezing of his assets in the United States and a general prohibition on Americans’ having dealings with him.
But according to several lawyers with experience in similar cases, the sanctions also could have a wide-ranging effect on Márquez’s Mexican club team, Atlas; the Mexican soccer federation; marketing partners and sponsors for both organizations; and even FIFA and the United States Soccer Federation, which are working with Mexico’s federation on a bid to be a host of the 2026 World Cup with Canada.
In theory, given the potential consequences for doing business with Márquez, his continued presence on the list could even prevent him from playing for his club, or his country, again.
“There is a cloud of uncertainty that will hang over this guy’s head for the foreseeable future,” said Farhad Alavi, a lawyer and expert on American sanctions. People named to the S.D.N. list, Alavi said, usually “become kryptonite, or untouchable anywhere they go.”
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Márquez, 38, said Wednesday that he “categorically denies” any links to drug traffickers. He will miss Atlas’s game this weekend, the team said, and it is unclear if he will be called in by the national team for World Cup qualifiers against Panama and Costa Rica in early September. On Thursday, the federation and the Mexican league, Liga MX, expressed support for him, albeit cautiously, in a statement.
“His professionalism and dedication to all clubs he’s been a part of in Mexico and around the world has been unquestionable,” the statement read in part, adding, “We trust Rafael Márquez clarifies the situation with the authorities, which we will support in order to achieve this quickly and efficiently.”
Atlas, too, released a statement that seemed to distance itself from Márquez; in it, the team stated its support for him and its respect for the law, but also “hope for a resolution that will allow our captain to rejoin the team.”
Still, for as long as he remains on the Treasury Department’s list, even the simple act of a club or federation paying Márquez could carry consequences for them, and for third parties. American companies that have sponsorship agreements with or provide services to Márquez will probably sever those deals and cease all association with him immediately. Sponsors of Atlas, and the national team, could be urged by their lawyers to do the same.
Even more mundane services, such as if Márquez has a life or health insurance policy with an American company, could be affected, because any payments to him in American dollars will pass through American banks where, by law, they must be frozen.
“Generally, for my clients, even if they are foreign companies, the recommendation is to cut all ties with S.D.N.s,” said Oliver Krischik, a lawyer at GKG Law who focuses on OFAC sanctions. “You’d be surprised by how entangled financial transactions are at banks.”
Because Márquez provides services — namely, playing soccer — to Atlas and the Mexican federation, American companies or foreign companies with significant American operations that have dealings with the team and the federation might be reluctant to continue those relationships if Márquez remains involved. This could include Coca-Cola, which sponsors Atlas and the Mexican national team, and Adidas and Citibanamex (the Mexican branch of Citibank), which sponsor the national team.
Many of those organizations declined to respond to requests for comment on Thursday. Citibanamex merely confirmed in a statement that it was a sponsor of Mexico’s national team. Adidas stressed that it had no relationship with Márquez: “This is a matter for the individual and if appropriate his branded partners and does not have an impact on our relationship with the Mexican federation.”
The Mexican national team also has extensive dealings with the United States. It plays exhibition games in the country each year under a contract with Soccer United Marketing, an arm of Major League Soccer — there have been five such games this year already — and will presumably do another American tour in the run-up to next year’s World Cup.
The Mexican soccer federation is also part of a joint bid with U.S. Soccer and the Canadian soccer federation to host FIFA’s 2026 World Cup.
Organizations that want to continue having a relationship with Márquez have at least two ways of staying on the right side of the law, according to Krischik. If they know their activity is prohibited, they can petition the Treasury Department for a specific license to engage in the transaction anyway. If they are unsure, they can file a request for interpretive guidance. Either way, it could take Treasury, through OFAC, up to a year to respond.
And though it is not likely, and would require an extraordinarily broad interpretation of sanctions law, it is not out of the question that Americans that play against Márquez in Liga MX or international matches could find themselves in trouble as well.
“You are forbidden as a U.S. person to have any transactions with a blocked individual,” said Clif Burns, a lawyer who focuses on economic sanctions. “I don’t think OFAC has ever answered the question of whether being on the soccer field with a guy, or being on his team, is a transaction,” though he warned the likelihood of the United States government’s pursuing individual players was small.
Given that the Márquez case is so unusual, and drawing such attention, Alavi predicted that OFAC might come out with guidance in the coming weeks. “Sanctioning an athlete is not an everyday occurrence, especially a high-profile athlete,” he said.
Still, sanctions law is generally a gray area, causing most organizations to proceed cautiously. (That is by design, as the sanctions, and the list, were created to deter individuals and businesses from having any contact with drug traffickers.) In the short term, that could lead Atlas and the Mexican federation to drop Márquez from their teams until he is removed from OFAC’s list.
In a news conference Wednesday night, Márquez called the Treasury Department’s designation and sanctions “a difficult situation.” He vowed to clear his name.
That is easier said than done. Erich Ferrari, a lawyer who has helped clients get their names off the OFAC list, said the process could take as long as 18 months.
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