China 'Underground Banks Laundered $50m Drug Cash'

The US Justice Department says Chinese “underground bankers” laundered more than $50m in drug money for Mexico’s Sinaloa crime cartel, according to a report by The Guardian, which noted that the claim was made in an indictment unsealed in a Californian court, with Drug Enforcement Agency chief Anne Milgram saying a years-long investigation “uncovered a partnership between Sinaloa cartel associates and a Chinese criminal syndicate operating in Los Angeles and China to launder drug money.”

“Drug traffickers increasingly have partnered with Chinese underground money exchanges to take advantage of the large demand for US dollars from Chinese nationals,” it said, adding that China and Mexico had each arrested one individual linked to the case, while $5 million in drug proceeds, plus 137 kilograms of cocaine had been seized. The DoJ said 20 of 24 defendants would appear in an LA court in coming weeks.

The Sinaloa cartel is said to have created a global network to oversee the trade in fentanyl, which is blamed for causing over 100,000 overdose deaths a year in the US, higher than car and gun fatalities combined, which has led to the US government seeking help from Beijing to help control the deadly trade.

Read the full report: The Guardian.