Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced on the 23rd that four Chinese individuals and a postal worker have pleaded guilty and been sentenced in connection with a dark web drug trafficking and cryptocurrency money laundering ring operating across states with New York’s Flushing as its base. The main suspect, 39-year-old Nan Wu, was sentenced to a minimum of six and a half years in prison on Thursday, while his associates Peng Peng Tang, Bowen Chen, Zixiang Lin, and postal employee Katie Montgomery have previously been sentenced to imprisonment or conditional release.
The criminal organization operated under the name “FireBunnyUSA,” using the dark web to deliver over 10,000 packages containing cocaine, MDMA, and ketamine to all 50 states in the U.S. and the District of Columbia, earning illegal profits exceeding 7.2 million dollars.
According to the indictment, the group was active on various dark web platforms from January 2019 to August 2022, claiming to be the “oldest supplier with the best quality, fastest delivery, and most discreet operations.” Nan Wu initially operated the business in Flushing and shipped over 10,000 drug packages. In April 2022, he transferred some operations to Upland, California, continuing drug trafficking activities nationwide.
Undercover agents from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office placed 11 orders with “FireBunnyUSA” within a year, purchasing multiple batches of cocaine, MDMA, and ketamine. Prosecutors stated that 22-year-old Zixiang Lin was responsible for assisting in logistics, including purchasing packaging materials, renting trucks and warehouses, while 30-year-old Peng Peng Tang helped Nan Wu travel under an alias across the U.S., renting houses and office spaces for him and coordinating financial transactions.
In July 2022, investigators executed a search warrant at Nan Wu’s apartment in Flushing, seizing a batch of drugs on the spot. Nan Wu was subsequently arrested and detained by federal authorities due to a prior drug case warrant. Tang Peng was also arrested by prosecutors at the same time.
Evidence retrieved from the phones of the two individuals revealed encrypted communications with overseas suppliers regarding drug imports and transaction records with customers on Telegram and Wickr. Police also discovered messages exchanged between Wu and a 35-year-old female postal worker named Katie Montgomery under the alias J*, showing that she used her position to provide Wu with internal advice on the postal system, helping him understand if packages were “flagged” and how to reduce the risk of mailing drugs.
Financially, Nan Wu and Peng Peng Tang collectively received nearly 8 million dollars in bitcoin profits, with approximately 900,000 dollars in cryptocurrency assets found on Tang’s phone. Prosecutors noted that the group used the difficult-to-track anonymous cryptocurrency Monero as an intermediary, converting drug profits into bitcoin before transferring them to multiple exchange accounts controlled by Wu, Tang, and other associates.
Throughout the money laundering process, over 734,000 dollars were converted to U.S. dollars and flowed into domestic exchange accounts, while at least 2.4 million dollars in bitcoin were transferred to overseas exchanges, laundered into Chinese yuan.
Following the sentencing yesterday, District Attorney Alvin Bragg stated, “Our prosecution team has demonstrated expertise in tracking cryptocurrency and dismantling dark web drug trafficking networks. These convictions not only rid the community of a criminal group that posed a serious threat but also successfully seized millions of dollars in criminal funds.”