Boxing Management Company Shutting Lower Over Alleged Organized Crime Connection

The boxing management company MTK Global announced that it will be ceasing operations on Wednesday, days after the United States Treasury Department announced sanctions against the co-founder of the company, Daniel Kinahan.

“It is a matter of public record that Mr Kinahan’s involvement in MTK ceased in 2017, and despite repeated reassurances in this regard, unfounded allegations about his ongoing association with us and our fighters persist,” MTK Global said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Since leading promoters have now informed us that they will be severing all ties with MTK and will no longer work with our fighters, we have taken the difficult decision to cease operations at the end of this month,” the statement continued.

MTK Global to cease operations

Official statement: https://t.co/BFk7J6Em38 pic.twitter.com/mniw1siMyR

— MTK Global Boxing (@MTKGlobal) April 20, 2022

Last week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Kinahan Organized Crime Group (KOCG), as a “Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations.”

“The Kinahan Organized Crime Group smuggles deadly narcotics, including cocaine, to Europe, and is a threat to the entire licit economy through its role in international money laundering,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “Criminal groups like the KOCG prey on the most vulnerable in society and bring drug-related crime and violence, including murder, to the countries in which they operate. Treasury is proud to have coordinated so closely with our international counterparts, and the U.S. government will continue to use every available resource to dismantle these criminal networks.”

The U.S. and Ireland have claimed that Daniel Kinahan is the leader of the KOCG. According to OFAC, “Each member of the KOCG reports to Daniel Kinahan, who is believed to run the day-to-day operations of the organization. Daniel Kinahan has instructed KOCG members to send money to a variety of individuals serving prison sentences, including a person convicted of attempted murder on behalf of the KOCG, and an individual imprisoned for murder on behalf of the KOCG.”

“Daniel Kinahan, who sources large quantities of cocaine from South America, plays an integral part in organizing the supply of drugs in Ireland, and is attempting to facilitate the importation of cocaine into the United Kingdom,” OFAC continued. “Daniel Kinahan is known to have used false identity documents.”

According to Sports Illustrated, Kinahan sold his interest to the company in 2017, though he has remained active with the fighters MTK represents.

Last week, Irish police commissioner Drew Harris said that anyone who works with Kinahan is “involved in a criminal network.”

“If you deal with these individuals who have been sanctioned, or these entities who are being sanctioned, you are involved in a criminal network,” Harris said at a news conference in Dublin.

“I’d ask them to look to their own business, at the probity of their own business and the relationship with their fans and, really, is this something they want to be involved with in terms of their legitimate business,” Harris continued. “I think the answer to that is a resounding no.”

Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].

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