Chinese national Jianfei Lu sentenced to 15 years in US$92m drug money scheme
A Chinese national, described by the US Justice Department as a “prolific” money launderer, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Tuesday and ordered to pay US$25 million for his role in a Chinese money laundering outfit with ties to Mexican drug gangs. The agency said Jianfei Lu, aged 31, was involved in laundering more than US$92 million in illicit funds in a two-year period, collecting the…
Chinese national Jianfei Lu has been sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay $25 million for his role in a money laundering scheme linked to Chinese and Mexican drug cartels. According to the US Justice Department, Lu laundered over $92 million in illicit funds over a two-year period, collecting money from US-based drug traffickers and depositing it into shell company bank accounts using fake identities.
Assistant Attorney General Tysen Duva highlighted the threat posed by Chinese money laundering networks, which enable Mexican cartels. Lu was one of six individuals in the original indictment to plead guilty. He acted as a courier, personally handling over $20 million of illicit cash, and helped manage the operation, coordinating with drug traffickers and directing other couriers.
Lu also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money, money laundering to conceal the proceeds' nature and source, and two counts of monetary transactions involving criminally derived property. The indictment also named Enhua Fang and Shu Jun Zhen as key figures in the operation, with Fang reportedly using multiple fake identities and encrypted communications to communicate with foreign operatives and US-based drug traffickers.
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