Tag: money laundering

Fentanyl Financiers: Treasury Links Mexican Banks and Chinese Networks to Cartel Money Laundering

The U.S. Department of the Treasury is stepping up its efforts to identify the ways that drug cartels move their funds. Most recently, Treasury officials identified the presence of Chinese money laundering networks that are working with Mexican drug cartels and other criminal entities to move large sums of cash.

In a series of notices from the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, authorities warned financial institutions about the methods that criminal organizations are using to launder money. According to FinCEN, investigators reviewed 137,153 Bank Secrecy Act reports from 2020 to 2024, identifying $312 billion in suspicious transactions tied to Chinese money laundering networks.

Of significant concern to FinCEN is the apparent ties between Mexican drug cartels and Chinese money laundering groups. The report comes just weeks after FinCEN and the U.S. Treasury sanctioned two Mexican banks and one brokerage firm that they alleged had been laundering money for various drug cartels and had also been helping funnel money into China to pay for fentanyl precursors, Breitbart Texas reported at the time.

The ties between drug cartels and Chinese groups are fueled in part by currency laws in both Mexico and China, which limit the amount of U.S. dollars that can be deposited and moved in Mexico, as well as China’s control of international currency within its country. Treasury officials claim that money laundering groups from China buy U.S. dollars from drug cartels and then sell them further ahead to Chinese individuals or businesses who are trying to evade China’s cash control laws.

Keep reading

Treasury Says Chinese Money Launderers ‘Vital’ To Cartel Fentanyl Trafficking

The Treasury Department revealed in an Aug. 28 advisory the scope of Chinese money laundering networks’ role in the fentanyl crisis and the harm they have caused the United States.

Banks are required by law to report suspicious activity indicative of money laundering. Reports between January 2020 and December 2024 show approximately $312 billion linked to suspected Chinese money laundering activity, according to the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

These money laundering networks, run by Chinese nationals, are preferred by major cartels, including the Mexico-based Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels, because of their speed, effectiveness, and willingness to absorb financial losses or assume risks on behalf of the cartels, according to the FinCEN report.

The cartels, many of which have been designated as terrorist organizations, control “nearly all illegal traffic across the southwest border,” to which the launderers contribute in a “vital” way, according to the report.

“Money laundering networks linked to individual passport holders from the People’s Republic of China enable cartels to poison Americans with fentanyl, conduct human trafficking, and wreak havoc among communities across our great nation,” John Hurley, the Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.

Communist China is already considered a key contributor to the fentanyl crisis because the majority of chemicals used to assemble illicit fentanyl are known to originate in Chinese chemical companies.

According to FinCEN, the primary goal of these networks is to acquire large quantities of U.S. dollars and other currencies. FinCEN released a trend report on Chinese money laundering networks earlier in August that outlines ties to other crimes unrelated to fentanyl trafficking, such as health care fraud and illicit gambling activity.

Both Mexico and China have laws that restrict citizens from depositing large amounts of U.S. currency. As a result, cartels and Chinese citizens seeking to circumvent the Chinese regime’s currency reporting requirements have turned to laundering networks, according to the report.

“Chinese money laundering networks are global and pervasive, and they must be dismantled,” FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki said.

Keep reading

$312 Billion in Chinese Money Laundering Networks Is Driving the Drug Crisis and Human Trafficking in the US

The Treasury Department has confirmed a national security and public safety disaster: Chinese money-laundering networks have pushed more than $312 billion in illicit transactions through U.S. financial institutions in recent years. 

That money financed Mexican drug cartels, enabled human traffickers, and supported organized criminal networks that have left tens of thousands of Americans dead from fentanyl overdoses and other cartel-driven violence.

According to FINCEN.gov, financial institutions filed 1,675 BSA reports in the dataset indicating suspicious activity potentially involving human trafficking or human smuggling.

FINCEN.gov also discovered funds potentially associated with healthcare fraud, elder abuse, and suspicious gaming activity.

What makes these Chinese Money Laundering Networks (CMLNs) especially dangerous is their coordination with Mexico’s most violent cartels, including the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation organizations. 

Mexico’s strict limits on U.S. dollar deposits force cartels to look abroad, while China’s own capital controls make moving money out of the country nearly impossible through legal channels. 

Criminals found the perfect solution: CMLNs convert cartel drug profits in dollars into Chinese renminbi and then cycle those funds back into the U.S. banking system. 

The cartels get clean money. China’s elites get access to American assets. And Americans pay the price in drug overdoses, gang violence, and financial corruption.

Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) documented 137,153 suspicious activity reports between 2020 and 2024 linked directly to CMLNs. 

These reports describe methods ranging from mirror transactions and trade-based laundering to the use of so-called “money mules.” 

Students, retirees, and homemakers with little or no income were recruited to make large deposits that far exceeded their financial profiles. This layering of ordinary citizens into billion-dollar schemes makes detection more difficult and gives cartels longer lifelines.

FinCEN also found $53.7 billion in suspicious real estate transactions, much of it in major cities where foreign buyers already distort housing markets. 

Another $766 million was tied to adult day-care centers in New York, which investigators believe could be linked to healthcare fraud, elder abuse, and even human trafficking. 

More than 1,600 cases pointed to human smuggling and trafficking operations, while another 108 cases were tied directly to elder abuse and Medicare fraud. 

Keep reading

Politico: Former Vatican Auditor Alleges System Enabled Money Laundering

Politico has published new claims from Libero Milone, a former auditor from Deloitte who was appointed by the Vatican in 2015. Milone alleges that the Vatican’s payroll agency was able to change names and account numbers on transactions after they were processed, allowing funds to be sent to private clients without revealing their identities.

According to Sleuth News, the U.S. intelligence community may have been involved. Sleuth News did not provide evidence to substantiate this claim but linked it to past reporting on Neustar’s role in projects tied to the 2016–2017 investigation.

Sleuth News specializes in deep dives into Russiagate, FOIA litigation, and related political and legal documents.

Vice President Vance told Gateway Pundit Publisher Jim Hoft that investigations related to the 2016 efforts to undermine and subvert Trump’s victory and first term are underway.

Revelations about Russiagate have been spilling out for weeks, even though the mainstream media has refused to cover it. Former CIA Director John Brennan has been caught lying about the releases. Law Prof Jonathan Turley suggests part of the motivation for their silence, is they don’t want to admit the role the media played in the Russiagate hoax against President Trump and his 2016 election victory.

The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway’s summary of the releases so far is that “Democrats should be scared.”

Keep reading

Corrupt Democrat Rep. Caught Taking Bribes

In 2013, U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar and his wife took a seemingly routine trip to Turkey and Azerbaijan, funded by an obscure Houston-based nonprofit. 

What followed, federal prosecutors now allege, was a years-long scheme involving foreign influence, money laundering, and one of the most serious indictments ever brought against a sitting member of Congress.

According to a federal indictment unsealed last week, Cuellar and his wife accepted nearly $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities: Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company, SOCAR, and Mexico’s Banco Azteca. 

Prosecutors allege that Cuellar, a Democrat from Laredo, Texas, used his office to advance the interests of these entities in exchange for payments disguised as consulting fees to shell companies owned by his wife. 

The indictment accuses Cuellar of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government—a rare charge previously brought against Sen. Bob Menendez in 2023 for working on behalf of Egypt.

The Cuellars allegedly funneled money through front companies, spent it on luxury items such as a $12,000 gown and restaurant bills, and concealed the transactions through intermediaries. 

One of those intermediaries, Florencio “Lencho” Rendon, a longtime associate of Cuellar, has already pleaded guilty to money laundering. So has Colin Strother, Cuellar’s former chief of staff and campaign manager, who prosecutors say funneled monthly payments to Cuellar’s wife.

Prosecutors claim the payments began in 2014, shortly after Cuellar’s trip to Azerbaijan. In text messages and emails, Cuellar allegedly communicated directly with Elin Suleymanov, then Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the U.S., discussing contracts, payments, and legislation favorable to the country. 

Keep reading

Louisiana Police Chiefs Indicted for Immigration Fraud and Money Laundering

A federal grand jury from the Western District of Louisiana has returned an indictment against five men in Louisiana. Two police chiefs, a city marshal, a business owner, and a former police chief are all accused of exploiting the U.S. immigration system for their own profit. 

The prosecutors allege that by filing false police reports, these men were able to fraudulently produce hundreds of U-Visas, special non-immigrant visas reserved for victims or witnesses of serious crimes who assist law enforcement.

Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander Van Hook announced these charges are being leveled by the Homeland Security Task Force as part of “Operation Take Back America.”

The 62-count indictment released on Wednesday includes allegations of conspiracy, bribery, mail fraud, immigration fraud, visa fraud, and money laundering. The alleged conspiracy lasted for nearly a decade, from December 2015 to July 2025, according to the 21-page indictment.

“This was a very complex investigation,” said Van Hook. “It involved some very sophisticated law enforcement techniques. It was really top notch.” 

Businessman Chandrakant Patel is accused of orchestrating the scheme by collecting payments from illegal aliens in the United States. Patel then allegedly coordinated with law enforcement officers across multiple jurisdictions in Louisiana to file fake police reports and obtain fraudulent U-Visas. 

These false reports, signed by law enforcement officers, allowed foreign nationals to remain in the United States illegally. The indictment details how Oakdale Police Chief Chad Doyle, City Marshal Michael Slaney, Forest Hill Police Chief Chad Dixon, and former Glenmora Police Chief Tibo Onishea each filed false police reports that supported U-Visa applications. 

Keep reading

7 Chinese nationals charged in MASSIVE money laundering, human smuggling, drug trafficking operation

Seven Chinese nationals have been charged in connection to a conspiracy to cultivate as well as distribute marijuana in the Northeastern United States. They undertook this operation by using a network of single-family houses in Massachusetts as well as Maine, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).  

A press release from the DOJ on the charges stated that Jianxiong Chen, 39; Yuxiong Wu, 36; Dinghui Li, 38; Dechao Ma, 35; Peng Lian Zhu, 35; Hongbin Wu, 35; and Yanrong Zhu, 47 were all charged in connection to the network distributing the drugs around the Northeast. Six of the defendants were taken into custody earlier this week, with Yanrong Zhu still on the run as a fugitive.  

Most of the Chinese nationals have been charged with money laundering as well as conspiracy, and some were also charged with bringing assisting with bringing foreign nationals to the US illegally.

US Attorney Leah B. Foley said of the charges, “This case pulls back the curtain on a sprawling criminal enterprise that exploited our immigration system and our communities for personal gain. These defendants allegedly turned quiet homes across the Northeast into hubs for a criminal enterprise – building a multi-million-dollar black-market operation off the backs of an illegal workforce and using our neighborhoods as cover. That ends today.” 

The DOJ further stated, “According to the charging documents, from in or about January 2020, the defendants allegedly owned, operated or partnered with a network of interconnected grow houses in Massachusetts and Maine to cultivate and distribute kilogram-sized quantities of marijuana in bulk. Specifically, the enterprise allegedly operated grow houses in Braintree, Mass.; Melrose, Mass.; and Greenfield, Mass., among other locations in Massachusetts, Maine and elsewhere.” 

Keep reading

Israeli Mossad named as funder of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

Top Israeli lawmakers have accused their government of laundering massive sums through a shadowy network of US humanitarian and mercenary orgs. The weaponized aid initiative is the linchpin of Israel’s plan to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza by forcing the starving population into concentration camp-like hubs.

Israel’s scheme to commandeer aid distribution in Gaza ended in chaos on May 27, with Israeli soldiers reportedly opening fire on stampeding crowds of hungry Palestinians after just 8000 boxes of rations were handed out by an opaque organization calling itself the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Founded this February in Switzerland under a cloud of mystery, GHF serves as an umbrella for a network of private mercenary firms which Israel is using to supplant the role of the United Nations in feeding Palestinians after bringing them to the brink of starvation.

At the moment, the public has no idea who is funding the opaque aid boondoggle. A GHF spokesman told the Washington Post “the foundation has already secured $100 million from an undisclosed donor.” 

Right-wing Israeli opposition figure and Member of Knesset Avigdor Lieberman proclaimed that GHF’s mysterious financial angel was, in fact, the Israeli government. “The money for humanitarian aid comes from the Mossad and the Ministry of Defense,” Lieberman wrote on Twitter/X, complaining, “Hundreds of millions of dollars at the expense of Israeli citizens.”

Keep reading

Biden’s AUTOPEN REGIME laundered $93 BILLION through Energy Department right before Trump took office, exposing last-ditch money grab by oligarchs

The Biden autopen regime’s final days in power were marked by a frenzied, unchecked spending spree — one that saw $93 billion in taxpayer-funded loans and commitments handed out by the Department of Energy (DOE) in just 76 days. This staggering figure, more than double the total loaned in the previous 15 years combined, reveals a desperate last-ditch effort by unelected oligarchs to funnel taxpayer money into the hands of politically connected entities before President Trump could take office.

During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Energy Secretary Christopher Wright confirmed that many of these loans were approved without basic due diligence — no business plans, no financials, just empty promises. The sheer scale of this financial recklessness exposes the Biden autopen regime’s true legacy: a government hijacked by elites who treated the Treasury as their personal slush fund.

Key points:

  • The Biden Department of Energy rushed $93 billion in loans and commitments in just 76 days — more than double the total from the previous 15 years.
  • Many recipients had no business plans or financial records, raising serious fraud concerns. Energy Secretary Christopher Wright admitted oversight was nonexistent, calling the spending “shameful.”
  • The DOE’s budget ballooned from 60billionto60billionto160 billion under Biden, with zero accountability. This mirrors other last-minute money grabs, including a $100 billion EPA grant scheme exposed by Project Veritas.

The 76-day money laundering frenzy

Between the 2024 election and Biden’s departure, the DOE transformed into a financial free-for-all. Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) grilled Wright on how such massive sums could be approved scrutiny scrutiny.

“So you’re telling me that the Department of Energy… gave or loaned money to entities that had no business plan?” Kennedy demanded.

“Correct,” Wright replied.

“No financials?”

“Correct.”

Wright confirmed that applicants often submitted half-baked ideas, with some promising to develop a business plan after receiving taxpayer funds. The lack of oversight was so blatant that Wright admitted his “blood pressure is rising” just reviewing the reckless spending.

Kennedy summed it up perfectly: “They were spending money at the Department of Energy like it was ditch water.”

Keep reading

Under The Guise Of Charity: CIA’s Hidden Money Laundering Network Exposed

We’re diving deeper into our investigation of CIA actions that contradict U.S. national interests. Today, we uncover another CIA-affiliated company using taxpayer money to supply Ukraine with weapons and military equipment — outside the scope of official aid packages.

Typically, money laundering scandals involve substantial sums, ranging from tens of millions to billions of dollars. In such cases, unscrupulous individuals are driven by greed and fear that this rare chance for enrichment might slip away, making it crucial to act quickly before the opportunity vanishes. The record suggests that most schemes unravel precisely in these moments of haste.

And it seems the CIA has also recognized this risk, shifting its approach toward laundering relatively small amounts while increasing the number of transactions. This method significantly reduces the chance of detection, even with high financial transparency, avoiding unnecessary scrutiny from oversight bodies. While the scheme appears to work effectively, one can’t help but wish that the CIA had used these skills for more constructive purposes.

Now, we will discuss a non-profit organization called the American Rescue Project (ARP), based in Washington D.C., at 800 Maine Ave SW suite 400.

Keep reading