Almost three months had to go by before former Barcelona defender Rafa Márquez returned to the pitch, following reports about his involvement in a money-laundering investigation by the U.S. Treasury and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Márquez was implicated in a scheme that benefitted drug dealer Raul Flores Hernández, AKA "El Tio", and had all of his accounts in the U.S. frozen by the U.S. Treasury. Furthermore, Márquez was immediately denied entry to the U.S., forcing him to miss any games played by Mexico in U.S. soil.
During the past few weeks, Márquez's attorneys sent a letter to the OFAC, with the intention of allowing their client to play even with an ongoing investigation. The Office allowed Márquez to play since yesterday, restricting his performances to Liga MX games and allowing him only to get paid in pesos.
Márquez's attorneys want their client's name to be cleared as soon as possible, as the 38-year-old defender wants to say goodbye to professional football as soon as the 2018 World Cup comes to a close.
As of now, Márquez is one of two players to score in three consecutive World Cup appearances, and would join Antonio Carbajal and Lothar Matthäus as the only players in history to perform in five different World Cup editions.
