Federal authorities have found that members of the Sinaloa Cartel used an underground banking network in China to launder more than $50 million in drug proceeds.
This week, the U.S. Department of Justice Ten indictments were unsealed. It indicted 24 men on charges of participating in an international conspiracy involving individuals from California, Mexico and other countries with ties to China.
“This DEA investigation uncovered collaboration between Sinaloa Cartel members and Chinese criminal organizations operating in Los Angeles and China to launder drug money,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a prepared statement. “Laundering drug money provides the Sinaloa Cartel with the means to manufacture and import deadly toxins into the United States.”
Authorities began charging some of them in 2023, and some fled to Mexico soon after. According to the Department of Justice, authorities worked with Mexican and Chinese authorities to arrest several who fled Los Angeles.
Federal prosecutors allege that the ringleader, Edgar Joel Martinez Reyes, 45, of East Los Angeles, ran a network of couriers who collected drug cash and then worked with Chinese money launderers to provide funds to members of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. According to court documents, Martinez used cryptocurrency and various financial schemes to move the funds, which involved depositing small amounts of money at a time.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, China’s underground money laundering network works by having individuals deposit Chinese currency into bank accounts. Once deposited, the individuals receive the cash in U.S. dollars. The Sinaloa Cartel then uses the funds transferred to China to make payments for a variety of goods and services from Chinese partners who supplied the cartel with precursor chemicals and equipment.
Prosecutors allege the money laundering took place between 2019 and 2023, and that in 2021 Martinez Reyes traveled to Mexico, where he conducted transactions with Chinese underground bankers.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist at Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. twitter and FacebookContact details: email address.
