Orlando Sentinel — Bradenton’s IMG Academy agreed to pay $1.7 million to settle a potential liability suit after allowing two students with ties to the Mexican cartel to attend the school.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced Thursday that IMG Academy’s continued tuition transactions for the two students racked up nearly 90 violations of counternarcotics sanctions over the span of four years.
“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 statement.
The federal office said IMG received wire transfers from third-party individuals in Mexico as part of the tuition agreements. IMG Academy therefore had the names of the sanctioned individuals, and OFAC said the academy failed to screen them…