Follow-Up: Chinese Money Laundering Organization Manager Jianfei Lu Sentenced to 15 Years in $92 Million Scheme
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Jianfei Lu, 31, a Chinese national, was sentenced in the Western District of North Carolina to 15 years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $25 million. Prosecutors say the Chinese money laundering organization he worked for laundered more than $92 million in illicit funds in under two years, including proceeds from illegal drugs imported and distributed in the United States primarily through Mexico. U.S. District Judge Susan C. Rodriguez imposed the sentence in August 2026.
According to court documents, Lu was a prolific courier and a manager of the organization. He personally picked up and deposited more than $20 million in bulk cash from U.S.-based drug traffickers, using both real and fake identities to deposit the money into shell company bank accounts registered by other members. He coordinated directly with traffickers, dispatched other couriers, and procured fake driver's licenses used to deposit illicit funds at major U.S. banks. About $670,000 in cash and 12 firearms were seized from one trafficking organization that used the network's services.
Lu pleaded guilty in July 2025 to money laundering conspiracy and related counts, admitting he knew the funds included drug trafficking proceeds and that he was involved in laundering between $25 million and $65 million. 'Chinese money laundering networks have become a key enabler to the Mexican cartels,' said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Criminal Division. 'The organization eliminated by this prosecution alone laundered more than $90 million in less than two years.' The DEA Charlotte District Office and IRS Criminal Investigation Charlotte Field Office investigated the case. Another courier in the same organization, Shu Jun Zhen, was previously sentenced to nine years in prison, as GSM reported earlier.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：北卡罗来纳州夏洛特市中心（资料图）。图片：brandon walker，CC0，取自 Wikimedia Commons
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