IMG Academy set to pay nearly $2 million in fines after students' parents linked to Mexican drug cartel

IMG Academy, a renowned high school that has become a stepping stone for aspiring college and professional athletes, will pay a fine of nearly $2 million after it was found that two athletes’ parents had ties to a Mexican drug cartel.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced last week that the guardians of students at the Bradenton, Florida, prep school committed 89 violations of counternarcotics sanctions.

"As a result of IMG Academy’s conduct, designated individuals who provided financial support and services to a sanctioned Mexican drug cartel were able to conduct commerce with U.S. persons and gain access to the U.S. financial system," the OFAC said in a release.

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The OFAC said that IMG Academy "would receive wire transfers from non-designated third-party individuals and entities, primarily located in Mexico, into its bank account at a U.S. financial institution, for further credit to each student-athlete account."

"IMG Academy would also charge payments to credit cards that were on file for each student-athlete," the OFAC continued. "In addition, when a positive end-of-year balance existed on either student-athlete’s account, IMG Academy would apply the amounts from one academic school year to the next to satisfy a portion of IMG Academy’s new (tuition enrollment agreements) with the respective (student's guardian).

The OFAC said IMG Academy showed "reckless disregard for U.S. sanctions requirements."

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"Minimal due diligence at any point throughout this process would have revealed that these customers were sanctioned. This failure allowed numerous violations to occur over an extended period of time," the OFAC said.

"Although IMG may have lacked actual knowledge that the individuals with whom it dealt with were sanctioned, IMG Academy did have actual knowledge of the underlying transactions giving rise to the apparent violations. IMG Academy entered into annual tuition enrollment agreements directly with the SDNs, invoiced the SDNs by name, and routinely communicated with each of them about payment obligations or the processing of overpayments, credits, or refunds into each respective student athlete account."

IMG said in a statement that it "fully cooperated" with OFAC’s investigation after it became aware of the guardians’ status.

"Since that isolated incident, extensive measures have been taken by IMG Academy to implement a comprehensive sanctions compliance program," the school said, via The Athletic.

Notable alumni include J.J. McCarthy, Evan Neal, Carnell Tate, Bo Scarbrough, Jonathan Isaac, and Nelly Korda, among dozens of other professional athletes. 

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