Chinese National Guilty of Laundering Millions for Mexican Drug Cartels
A Chinese national
pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with laundering more than $4 million in drug proceeds generated by large-scale cocaine trafficking in the United States.
Jason Crosby, Chief of the Criminal Investigations Division of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS);
and
Special Agent in Charge Raymond Villanueva of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C.,
made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema accepted the plea.
According to court documents,
Xueyong Wu, 40,
cultivated relationships with Latin American drug trafficking organizations to transport and launder their United States-based drug proceeds. Wu is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 29.
Much of this money
was repatriated to Mexico through a complex series of international financial transactions.
Wu received a percentage of the money involved in these transactions as compensation for organizing these laundering activities.
Much of this money was generated through movement of cocaine or payment for cocaine that took place within the Eastern District of Virginia.
OPA | Department of Justice
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chinese-national-guilty-laundering-millions-mexican-drug-cartels