Mexican President Sheinbaum Asks Trump Admin To Share Recovered Assets From 'El Mayo' Zambada With The Poorest

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum asked the Trump administration to share whatever assets it recovers from drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada with her country's poorest.

Speaking at her daily press conference, Sheinbaum said that "if the United States government were to recover resources, then we would be asking for them to be given to Mexico for the poorest people."

However, that scenario is unlikely to materialize. "El Mayo" 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, 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 the outlet. "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 changed his initial plea on Monday, 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. His sentencing will take place on January 13 next year.