Two Chinese nationals and a New York woman pleaded guilty this week to money laundering charges as part of a major Chinese drug operation, according to the Justice Department.
Three others in the case also pleaded guilty in April as part of what the officials are calling “Operation Take Back America” – a nationwide anti-drug and illegal immigration crackdown.
The case provides some of the first public details on how Chinese nationals are working together with Mexican drug cartels in shipping into the U.S. the deadly fentanyl that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans over the past several years.
The money laundering took bulk cash from drug trafficking and deposited the money in banks. The organization used couriers, covert bank-account holders, coordinators and foreign-based operatives, according to court papers in the case.
The Chinese nationals Fang Enhua, 38, and Lu Jianfei, 30, together with Zhen Shu Jun, 36 and