The Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) of the Mexican government’s Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) blocked the bank accounts of Raúl Rocha Cantú, businessman and current owner of 50% of the Miss Universe beauty pageant franchise, amid investigations into alleged ties to organized crime.
The version was advanced this Friday by the Mexican newspaper La Jornada.
On November 26, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR) confirmed that it was investigating Rocha Cantú as part of a case of alleged links to organized crime, particularly drug trafficking, fuel smuggling and arms trafficking.
In a statement, the Attorney General’s Office said that since November 29, 2024 the investigation file was opened against 13 people “for organized crime, in relation to drug trafficking, huachicol and arms trafficking”.
The investigation against Raul Rocha, owner of Miss Universe
The FGR’s report came after that same day Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum asked the prosecutor’s office to clearly inform whether there is an investigation or an arrest warrant against the Miss Universe brand owner.
Mexican media reported that Rocha has been charged by the authorities for his alleged responsibility in drug, arms and fuel trafficking between Guatemala and Mexico.
However, four days later, on Sunday, Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), Omar Garcia Harfuch, denied that there are any indications that the Miss Universe pageant is financed by organized crime.
“We have no beginning that there is money from organized crime in the Miss Universe pageant, we don’t have it, nor do we have anything related to the pageant, as such in the pageant, with the corresponding investigations,” said Garcia Harfuch in a press conference in the Mexican capital.
Questioned about this investigation, the official said that the investigations resulted in 13 arrest warrants, including that of Rocha Cantú, in “full coordination” with the Attorney General’s Office (FGR).
As of 2024, the Miss Universe Organization is jointly owned, in equal parts, by Thai media company JKN and Legacy Holding Group USA Inc, a division of a Mexican company owned by Rocha Cantu, reported Agencia EFE.
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