'El Mayo' Zambada Agreed To Forfeit $15 Billion, But Most Of It Will Be Impossible To Recover: Report

Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges on Monday and accepted to forfeit $15 billion in assets, but experts in asset forfeiture say going after the full figure would be absurd, according to a new report.

Bloomberg noted that the U.S. is unlikely to recover more than a fraction, with Bloomberg noting that seizing assets like real estate in Mexico is highly difficult. Moreover, criminal organizations tend to employ what the outlet described as sophisticated methods to store their wealth, ranging from properties to cryptocurrencies and legitimate businesses.

"The money is not in piles of cash, it's in an extremely diversified set of assets," Edmundo Sandoval, associate director of global risk analysis at Control Risks in Mexico, told Bloomberg. "What portion of it will be handed over? I wouldn't dare give you an estimate, but it'll be symbolic," he added, noting that pretending to recover $15 billion would be "absurd."

The U.S. Attorney's office declined to answer to the outlet about the likelihood of seizing the assets. Another U.S. attorney declined to answer how much money the country recovered from Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel and also sentenced to decades in prison in the U.S.

Zambada's plea is dominating the conversation both in Mexico and the U.S., with top officials in both countries reacting to the development and its impact in the fight against cartels and others potentially involved with criminal organizations.

Zambada changed his initial plea, considering he said he wasn't guilty in September last year. The change comes just weeks after U.S. authorities decided they will not seek the death penalty in Zambada's case, a move that appears to have catalyzed the agreement.

In addition to Zambada himself, other aging cartel figures, like Rafael Caro Quintero, were similarly spared, suggesting a broader prosecutorial strategy of encouraging plea deals. His sentencing will take place on January 13 next year.