Two Chinese Nationals Charged With Laundering Funds for the Sinaloa and Jalisco Cartels
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on May 22, 2026, that an indictment unsealed the previous day in the Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandria, Virginia, charges Chinese nationals Ruhuan Zhen and Hongce Wu with conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with transnational criminal organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion.
According to court documents, from at least November 2016 through April 2025, Zhen, Wu and their co-conspirators allegedly used mirror transfers, foreign bank accounts, encrypted communications applications, a serial-number verification system and trade-based money laundering to launder substantial volumes of narcotics proceeds across the United States, Mexico, Latin America, China and elsewhere, involving the importation and sale of cocaine, fentanyl and other drugs. They were indicted on April 24, 2025, by a federal grand jury in Alexandria and remain at large; if convicted, each faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
The Drug Enforcement Administration's Special Operations Division, Bilateral Investigations Unit investigated the case, which is being prosecuted by the Criminal Division's Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia as part of a nationwide Justice Department initiative against cartels and transnational criminal organizations. An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于亚历山德里亚的 Albert V. Bryan 联邦法院（资料照片），起诉书在该院解封。Tim Evanson 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse in Alexandria (file photo), where the indictment was unsealed. Photo by Tim Evanson, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
