The American Department of Justice accused Tuesday June 18 of “ shadow Chinese bankers » for helping the powerful Mexican drug trafficking cartel Sinaloa launder more than fifty million dollars in drug proceeds. Twenty-four people are facing charges of money laundering and conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine.
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For four years, the American Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has been investigating the money laundering practices of Mexican cartels and in particular the Sinaloa cartel. These organizations do their utmost to launder money from the sale of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyla dangerous synthetic opiate, on American soil.
They want to do it cheaply. This is why, according to the DEA, they use particularly discreet and inexpensive shadowy Chinese money laundering organizations.
“ Partnership »
The investigators “ uncovered a partnership between members of the Sinaloa cartel and a Chinese criminal organization active in China and to Los Angeles to launder drug money », Says Anne Milgram, head of the DEA, according to the press release.
Chinese individuals are prohibited from taking the equivalent of more than $50,000 per year out of their country. This creates strong demand for foreign exchange among Chinese nationals living abroad. The Mexican cartels are drowning in the cash they wish to launder and would therefore create a complex laundering circuit involving the Chinese. This obviously does not please the authorities in Beijing.
Sino-US cooperation
During their summit meeting in November 2023, near San Francisco, the fight against drug trafficking was one of the few points of agreement between the American president Joe Biden and its Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. And it is undoubtedly no coincidence that one of the people arrested was arrested in China by the Chinese authorities.
According to Liz Sherwood Randall, advisor to the Department of Homeland Security, China’s actions are in line with ” commitments made » by the two presidents in 2023 with a view to “ resume bilateral cooperation to combat the manufacturing and trafficking of illicit drugs globally “.