A Justice Department indictment unsealed in Los Angeles laid out what the government called a complex conspiracy between the Sinaloa cartel and Chinese clandestine banking networks to launder more than $50 million dollars in drug trafficking profits.
Federal authorities charged 24 people linked to these organizationss following a multi-year investigation dubbed “Operation Fortune Runner,” which revealed sophisticated methods used by the Sinaloa cartel and its associates to hide and transfer illicit funds obtained from drug traffickingas reported by the Department of Justice in a statement.
Two “fugitives” named in the indictment unsealed in California have been arrested: one by the Chinese government and the other by the Mexican government, the DEA reported.
After close coordination with the Department of Justice, Chinese and Mexican authorities informed US authorities that Those countries recently arrested fugitives named in the superseding indictmentwho fled the United States after they were initially charged last year.
The multi-year investigation into this conspiracy resulted in an indictment filed on April 4 and unsealed on Monday, charging a total of 24 people one count of conspiracy to aid and abet the distribution of cocaine and methamphetamine, one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and one count of conspiracy to operate a money transmission business without a license.
Is about an unusual advance in the collaboration of United States law enforcement agencies with China and Mexicowho have frequently rejected US proposals to crack down on drug trafficking.
Sinaloa cartel associates in Los Angeles are accused of conspiring with Chinese underground banking groups to launder drug moneymoving tens of millions between cartel associates and these Chinese money exchange houses.
Authorities seized approximately $5 million in narcotics proceeds, 302 pounds of cocaine, 92 pounds of methamphetamine, 3,000 ecstasy pills, 44 pounds of psilocybin (magic mushrooms), and numerous ounces of ketamine.
Authorities also confiscated three semi-automatic rifles with high-capacity magazines and eight semi-automatic pistols.
If found guilty, Each defendant faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The main accused, Edgar Joel Martínez-Reyes, 45, of East Los Angeles, and others, allegedly used a variety of methods to conceal the origin of the money, including trade-based money laundering, “structuring” of assets in the U.S. banking system to avoid federal financial reporting requirements, and purchasing of cryptocurrency.
It is expected that twenty of the individuals charged in the superseding indictment will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming weeks, including one who was arraigned Monday.
“Dangerous drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine are destroying people’s lives, but drug dealers only care about their profits,” said federal prosecutor Martín Estradaof the Central District of California.
“Relentless greed, the pursuit of money, is what drives the Mexican drug cartels, responsible for the worst drug crisis in US history,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.
How they operated
In January 2021, Martínez-Reyes allegedly traveled to Mexico to meet with members of the Sinaloa Cartel to reach an agreement with money senders with ties to Chinese underground banking to launder drug trafficking profits in the United States.
Once the deal was agreed, Martínez-Reyes and other conspirators allegedly gave the money (often in amounts of hundreds of thousands of US dollars in cash) to other members of the Chinese clandestine exchange house and remittance organizations for laundering. paying a fee.
Many of those involved in this network They made deposits in banks in the United States, bought goods in China and sent them to Mexico to be resold there, and created a system of “mules” that moved cash in banks, exploiting the United States financial system.
The Sinaloa cartel, known for its former capo Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and his role in the massive entry of fentanyl into the United States, generates huge sums of US currency. Through laundering efforts, money can be repatriated to Mexico for cartel use, according to the U.S. government.
AND clandestine Chinese money exchanges They help cartels shift profits from the United States to Mexico by providing a ready market for U.S. currency.
US federal authorities face powerful economic forces uniting Mexican and Chinese criminal syndicates operating in North and Central America.
Keep reading:
• DEA says getting drugs is as easy as ordering Uber Eats and urged Congress for more money to fight cartels
• Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG, causes of the worst drug crisis in the history of the United States: DEA
• 47 people linked to the Sinaloa Cartel are accused in California of drug trafficking and other crimes