Today, on July 7th, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that the final three defendants in a major money laundering case involving drug funds have pleaded guilty. These three individuals are 38-year-old Enhua Fang, 30-year-old Jianfei Lu, both Chinese nationals, and 36-year-old New York resident Shu Jun Zhen.
According to court documents, these three individuals were members of a large Chinese money laundering group called CMLO. In less than two years, they laundered over $92 million of illegal funds, the majority of which were proceeds from drug trafficking. These drugs primarily entered the United States from Mexico and were distributed within the country.
Prosecutors revealed that Fang was the mastermind of the operation, responsible for arranging couriers to collect cash across the U.S., and then transferring these funds into multiple shell company accounts to conceal the source. Fang admitted that she knew the money came from drug transactions, and the amount of illegal funds she laundered totaled $90 million.
Lu was responsible for directly receiving cash from drug traffickers in the U.S. and forging driver’s licenses to help couriers successfully deposit drug money into banks. He admitted to laundering drug money totaling $65 million.
Zhen assisted in laundering nearly $25 million under the direction of Fang and Lu, fully aware that these funds were proceeds from illegal drug transactions.
Under federal law, each of these three individuals faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering, and a maximum of 10 years for engaging in monetary transactions derived from criminal activity. The specific sentences will be determined by the judge in accordance with the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
With the guilty pleas of this large Chinese money laundering group’s six members, the group has been completely dismantled.
The U.S. Department of Justice emphasized that this case is part of the department’s “Take Back America Initiative,” aimed at harshly combating transnational drug crimes and protecting community safety.