The Justice Department announced on Tuesday that a five-year investigation has revealed that Mexican drug cartels worked with a U.S.-based group with ties to underground Chinese banks to launder drug trafficking funds.
a press release The Department of Justice said Operation Fortune Runner uncovered a money laundering network linked to the Sinaloa drug cartel that worked with a money transfer group based in California’s San Gabriel Valley to “process significant amounts of drug proceeds in U.S. dollars in the Los Angeles area.” Federal authorities said the California-based group has ties to underground Chinese banks.
“Partnership between Sinaloa Cartel figures and Chinese crime organisations operating in Los Angeles and China.”
These groups allegedly concealed their profits and funneled the funds to cartel members in Mexico and elsewhere.
“The Department of Justice today announced a 10-count indictment alleging that Los Angeles-based members of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel conspired with a money laundering ring with ties to underground banks in China to launder drug trafficking proceeds. During the conspiracy, more than $50 million in drug proceeds were diverted between Sinaloa cartel members and underground vaults in China,” a Department of Justice press release stated.
The department announced that law enforcement agencies in China and Mexico had arrested the fugitives named in the Department of Justice indictment who had fled the U.S. The 24 defendants face multiple charges, including “one count of conspiracy to aid in the distribution of cocaine and methamphetamine, one count of conspiracy to launder financial instruments, and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business,” the department reported.
Edgar Joel Martinez Reyes, 45, of East Los Angeles, is accused of using a variety of strategies to conceal the source of his funds, including a trade-based money laundering scheme, asset “structuring” and cryptocurrency.
The investigation resulted in the seizure of approximately $5 million in illegal drug proceeds, 302 pounds of cocaine, 92 pounds of methamphetamine, 3,000 ecstasy tablets, 44 pounds of psilocybin, ketamine, three rifles and eight handguns.
“Dangerous drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine are destroying lives, but drug traffickers only care about their profits,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California.
“Therefore, pursuing sophisticated international criminal organizations that launder drug money is essential to protecting our communities,” Estrada continued. “As this indictment and our international action demonstrate, we will pursue all those who facilitate the destruction of our country and ensure they are held accountable for their actions.”
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram explained that Mexican drug cartels are motivated by money and are “responsible for the worst drug crisis in American history.”
“This DEA investigation uncovered partnerships between Sinaloa Cartel members and Chinese criminal organizations in Los Angeles and China to launder drug money that provides the Sinaloa Cartel with the means to manufacture and import deadly toxins into the United States,” Milgram added.
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