DOJ charges two Chinese nationals with collaborating with Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartels
Ruhuan Zhen and Hongce Wu were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering with proceeds from cocaine and fentanyl trafficking.
Graffiti of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. File image
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that two Chinese nationals have been charged with collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
Ruhuan Zhen and Hongce Wu were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering for both transnational criminal organizations.
According to a release from the DOJ, the two Chinese nationals laundered "substantial volumes of narcotics proceeds," including "cocaine and fentanyl" for nearly a decade, "beginning in at least November 2016 and continuing to April 2025."
To commit the crimes, Zhen and Wu "a variety of secretive and clandestine methods, including mirror transfers, foreign bank accounts, encrypted communications applications, a serial-number verification system, and trade-based money laundering."
The charges were filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, the DOJ said.
The defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison each. The DOJ noted that Zhen and Wu remain at large.
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