DEA Indicts LA-Based Sinaloa Cartel Members For Laundering $50M In Drug Money Via Underground Chinese Networks
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced a 10-count indictment against Los Angeles-based associates of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, which is run by the sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, who is serving a life sentence in a supermax prison in Colorado.
These associates are being charged with conspiracy to launder over $50 million in drug-trafficking proceeds through Chinese underground banking networks. The multi-year investigation, dubbed “Operation Fortune Runner,” led to the indictment of 24 defendants.
The Sinaloa Cartel and Chinese operatives, according to the DEA, are involved in smuggling massive amounts of fentanyl into the U.S, with the Chinese supplying precursor chemicals to make it and cartel operatives producing it in Mexico.
“The Sinaloa Cartel is largely …