Georgia Man Pleads Guilty in Money Laundering Scheme Involving Mexican Drug Cartels

The Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington on July 29, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A Georgia man pleaded guilty on Oct. 30 for his involvement in a scheme to launder millions in illicit drug proceeds for Mexican cartels, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Li Pei Tan, 46, of Buford, and his co-conspirator, Chaojie Chen, 41, a Chinese national from Chicago, were arrested earlier this year. Before their arrests, they traveled throughout the United States to collect money from trafficking fentanyl, cocaine, and other drugs, the DOJ stated.

Tan and Chen worked with co-conspirators in China and other countries, according to the DOJ.

In a “sophisticated trade-based money laundering scheme,” the defendants purchased bulk electronics in the United States and shipped the items to co-conspirators in China “to conceal the illicit source of the drug proceeds,” according to a DOJ statement published on Oct. 30.

The DOJ stated that the two defendants had worked on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the two cartels are known for producing fentanyl and pressing it into fake pills that look like legitimate pharmaceuticals, such as pain reliever OxyContin and anti-anxiety medication Xanax.

Citing the DEA’s 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment, a report published in May, the DOJ stated that the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels “are at the heart” of the fentanyl crisis in the United States.

“[The two cartels] rely on chemical companies and pill press companies in China to supply the precursor chemicals and pill presses needed to manufacture the drugs,” DEA Administrator Annie Milgram said in the report.

Chen pleaded guilty in August. According to prosecutors, law enforcement officials seized hundreds of thousands of dollars in bulk cash drug proceeds from him at several locations in the United States.

When DEA agents detained Tan in South Carolina in March, they found $197,770 in cash in his car, according to an affidavit.

Tan and Chen entered a guilty plea for conspiracy to commit money laundering.

“As part of their pleas, Tan and Chen agreed to forfeit numerous assets to the government, including a residence, a firearm, body armor, and more than $270,000 in seized currency,” the DOJ said on Oct. 30.

Tan is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 7 next year and Chen on Nov. 14. They both face a maximum of 20 years in prison.

The Epoch Times has contacted Tan’s lawyer for comment.

Earlier this month, eight China-based companies and eight Chinese nationals were indicted for allegedly trafficking synthetic opioids and fentanyl precursors.

The defendants “openly advertised their ability to thwart border officials,” used evasive tactics such as mislabeling the contents of shipments, and had shipped “a stable supply of precursor chemicals” to clients in the United States and Mexico for years, according to the DOJ.

In July, the Department of the Treasury sanctioned one Mexican resident and two China-based individuals suspected of laundering drug-trafficking proceeds for the Sinaloa cartel.

President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act into law in April. The legislation was designed to effectively disrupt illicit opioid supply chains, from Chinese chemical suppliers to Mexican cartels.

“As I travel across Pennsylvania, I’ve heard from far too many families who have lost a loved one to the fentanyl crisis, and I carry their stories with me to Washington as I’ve pushed to get this bill passed,” Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), one of the lawmakers who pushed for the passage of the bill, said in a statement at the time.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of people who died from a fentanyl-related overdose was 74,702 in 2023, down from 76,226 in 2022.

On Oct. 24, a group of Democratic senators, including Casey, sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, urging the Biden administration to “impose trade countermeasures” on China for its “direct role in and support for the illicit fentanyl trade,” according to a statement.

“The Chinese government directly subsidizes the production of illicit fentanyl materials through tax rebates, awards grants to companies openly trafficking illicit fentanyl online, and holds ownership interests in companies trafficking illicit fentanyl materials,” the senators wrote.

“In other words, China’s state-sponsored policy is to profit from Americans’ deaths.”