Chinese National Sentenced to 15 Years for Laundering Drug Trafficking Proceeds

A Chinese national who helped manage an organization that laundered more than $92 million in illicit funds was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Aug. 18, according to the Department of Justice.

Lu Jianfei, 31, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Susan Rodriguez in North Carolina. He was also ordered to forfeit $25 million for his role in the Chinese money laundering organization.

“Chinese money laundering networks have become a key enabler to the Mexican cartels,” Andrew Tysen Duva, assistant attorney general with the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement.

The threat posed by these Chinese networks has become increasingly complex, Duva said.

According to a court document, Lu began working as a courier in May 2022 before becoming a manager in October 2022, when he began coordinating a group of the organization’s couriers.

As a courier, he received instructions from the organization to pick up bulk cash from U.S.-based traffickers and deposit the money into “business checking accounts opened at major financial institutions in the names of shell companies that were controlled by the organization,” according to the document.

To deposit the money, Lu frequently used a fake driver’s license with the name “Xian Le Li.”

Prosecutors said that, in total, Lu picked up and deposited more than $20 million of illicit bulk cash.

As a manager, Lu procured fake driver’s licenses for other couriers and coordinated them to pick up bulk cash and deposit the money.

“After the illicit funds were deposited, other members of the organization would further transfer the money to other bank accounts, cryptocurrency accounts, and escrow accounts,” the court filing reads.

In return, Lu received “substantial personal income” from the organization.

Aside from Lu and other couriers, the organization’s members included account holders, coordinators, and foreign-based operators.

Lu’s involvement in the organization lasted until April 2024.

“We are working hard to attack cartels on all fronts,” Russ Ferguson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, said in a statement.

“That means attacking the money laundering networks that fuel the cartels and hide their money, making it harder to prosecute them. This is an important step in eliminating cartels—a key priority in my office.”

According to court documents, Lu’s legal representation was terminated on Aug. 18.

Four other members of the organization, including three Chinese nationals, pleaded guilty last year.

Mexican drug cartels are increasingly turning to Chinese money-laundering organizations because they charge lower fees, according to a 2025 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which cited law enforcement officials. The Chinese organizations can offer lower rates by selling the U.S. dollars they receive from cartels to Chinese citizens—living in the United States, Mexico, and China—seeking to circumvent China’s restrictions on moving money abroad.

There have been other similar cases involving Chinese nationals in recent months.