Mumbai, Jan 14 A California man, Yan Lin, 41, was produced in a court in United States' Cincinnati on charges that he conspired to launder tens of millions of dollars in drug proceeds, according to an official statement.
The statement from the US State Department said that the indictment alleged that between March 2022 and October 2024 Mexico‑based traffickers hired Lin to return profits from sales of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine across US cities.
Lin arranged for his co-conspirators to deliver bulk cash to others who bought electronics that were shipped to co-conspirators in Hong Kong, China, and elsewhere, the statement said.
After confirmation of receipt of the bulk cash, Mexico-based drug traffickers would receive their payment in Mexico, minus a commission, via a “mirror transaction.” One ledger, which recorded just a portion of Lin’s money contracts in 2024, totalled approximately $27.4 million in bulk cash delivered across the United States, it said.
The indictment charged Lin with conspiracy to commit money laundering and concealment money laundering. If convicted, Lin faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, the statement said.
China has emerged as the dominant supplier of precursor chemicals and technical inputs that sustain the manufacture of synthetic narcotic drugs produced in Southeast Asia, particularly the Golden Triangle region, a recent media report said.
China's chemical industry produces the overwhelming majority of the world's active pharmaceutical ingredients and industrial precursors, many of which have legitimate commercial uses but can be repurposed for synthetic drug production with minimal modification, it added.
International indictments and investigative reporting have repeatedly shown that Chinese chemical suppliers and brokers have knowingly marketed, sold, and shipped fentanyl and methamphetamine precursors to overseas criminal networks.
The US Department of Justice's prosecutions of Chinese nationals and firms for fentanyl precursor trafficking also show that these transactions form part of organised commercial practices involving encrypted communications, mislabelled shipments and cryptocurrency-based payments, the article further stated.
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