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IMG Academy, a renowned high school that has become a springboard for aspiring college and professional athletes, will pay a fine of nearly $2 million after it was discovered that the parents of two athletes had ties to a Mexican drug cartel.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced last week that guardians of students at the Bradenton, Florida, preparatory school committed 89 drug sanctions violations.
“Through the conduct of IMG Academy, designated individuals who provided financial support and services to a sanctioned Mexican drug cartel were able to trade with Americans and access the U.S. financial system,” OFAC said in a statement.
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The Division II Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships are held at IMG Academy on May 27, 2017 in Bradenton, Florida. (Photos by Matt Marriott/NCAA via Getty Images)
OFAC said IMG Academy “receives wire transfers from undesignated third-party individuals and entities, primarily located in Mexico, to its bank account with a U.S. financial institution, for additional credit to each student-athlete account.”
“IMG Academy would also charge payments to the credit cards on file for each student-athlete,” OFAC continued. “Additionally, where a positive year-end balance existed in either student-athlete’s account, IMG Academy would apply the amounts from one school year to the next to satisfy a portion of IMG Academy’s new agreements (tuition enrollment agreements) with the respective (student’s guardian).
OFAC said IMG Academy showed “reckless disregard for U.S. sanctions requirements.”
General atmosphere during Hudson Heinemann participates in National Signing Day-Division 1 Football/Quarterback for Villanova University at IMG Academy on February 5, 2025, in Bradenton, Florida. (Jason Koerner/Getty Images for Hudson Heinemann)
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“Minimum due diligence at any point during this process would have revealed that these customers had been sanctioned. This failure enabled numerous violations over an extended period of time,” OFAC said.
“While IMG may not have actually known that the individuals it was dealing with were being sanctioned, IMG Academy had actual knowledge of the underlying transactions giving rise to the apparent violations. IMG Academy entered into annual tuition agreements directly with the SDNs, billed the SDNs by name, and regularly communicated with each of them regarding payment obligations or the processing of overpayments, credits or refunds to each respective student-athlete account.”
IMG said in a statement that it “fully cooperated” with OFAC’s investigation after learning of the guardians’ status.
Bradenton’s IMG Academy has settled a $1.7 million liability claim filed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control that alleged IMG provided services to children of Mexican drug cartels. (James A. Jones Jr./Bradenton Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“Since this isolated incident, significant steps have been taken by IMG Academy to implement a comprehensive sanctions compliance program,” the school said via The Athletic.
Notable alumni include JJ McCarthy, Evan Neal, Carnell Tate, Bo Scarbrough, Jonathan Isaac and Nelly Korda, among dozens of other professional athletes.
