U.S. Busts Chinese Money Laundering Network For Mexican Drug Cartels

US prosecutors have touted a breakthrough in a crackdown against Chinese money laundering networks they say are working with Mexican drug cartels, announcing charges against 24 participants in a scheme to launder more than $50 million in drugs, Sean Lyngaas reported for CNN.

Ten thousand fake fentanyl pills were also seized in the operation.

It’s one of the biggest busts yet as federal agencies step up efforts to target the highest levels of Chinese money laundering rings that experts and officials tell CNN are the go-to partners for Mexico’s most dangerous drug cartels that traffic fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine into the US.

Two “fugitives” named in the indictment unsealed in California have been arrested — one by China and the other by Mexico, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said.

It’s a rare breakthrough for US law enforcement collaboration with China and Mexico, which have often bristled at US overtures to crack down on drug trafficking.

The network includes an array of Chinese, Mexican, and American men who allegedly worked as couriers, money brokers, and traffickers in an elaborate scheme to pick up large amounts of cash from the sale of cocaine and meth in the Los Angeles area and launder the money for the Sinaloa Cartel.

Ten thousand fake fentanyl pills were also seized in the operation, according to the DEA. An official told CNN that they had seen an “uptick” in Chinese money laundering activity in the US since last year.

“In every investigation we have that involves the cartels and money laundering, the Chinese (groups) are involved,” the DEA official said.

“It’s a marriage made in heaven,” Don Im, who spent three decades at the DEA tracking money laundering and other crimes, told CNN.

“The world’s global drug markets have now become China’s ad-hoc bank.”