The Brief
- IMG Academy, the world-renowned sports boarding school in Bradenton, has agreed to pay a $1.72 million fine after federal investigators discovered the school spent years taking tuition money from individuals linked to a Mexican drug cartel.
- According to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the elite academy entered into multiple tuition contracts with two “sanctioned individuals” who were on a federal blacklist for providing financial support and services to a Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization between 2018 and 2022.
- While the government noted that IMG likely didn’t have “actual knowledge” that they were dealing with a cartel, they did have direct contact with the parents via email and invoices.
BRADENTON, Fla. – IMG Academy, the world-renowned sports boarding school in Bradenton, has agreed to pay a $1.72 million fine after federal investigators discovered the school spent years taking tuition money from individuals linked to a Mexican drug cartel.
The backstory:
According to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the elite academy entered into multiple tuition contracts with two “sanctioned individuals” between 2018 and 2022. These individuals were on a federal blacklist for providing financial support and services to a Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization.…