Los Angeles-based affiliates of the Sinaloa cartel, the organization once helmed by infamous drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, have partnered with underground banks in China to launder more than $50 million, authorities say.
A 10-count indictment naming 24 people related to the alleged money laundering was announced in a Drug Enforcement Administration press release on Tuesday.
The charges include conspiracy to aid and abet the distribution of cocaine and methamphetamine, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Additionally, some defendants have been charged with possession of pound quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine, structuring funds to avoid federal reporting requirements placed on banks, and one count of assault with a deadly weapon on a federal officer, the DEA said.
Authorities say a San Gabriel Valley “money transmitting group with links to Chinese underground banking” accepted cash from drug sales, then concealed the source of that money and “made the proceeds generated in the United States accessible to cartel members in Mexico and elsewhere.”
The DEA said 45-year-old Angeleno Edgar Joel Martinez-Reyes and his associates “used a variety of methods to hide the money’s source, including trade-based money laundering, ‘structuring’ assets to avoid federal financial reporting requirements, and the purchase of cryptocurrency.”
The associates were not named in the release, but the DEA said 20 of them either already have been arraigned in downtown Los Angeles or are expected to be arraigned “in the coming weeks.”
In addition to about $5 million in suspected narcotics money seized by authorities, investigators also found large amounts of guns and drugs:
- 302 pounds of cocaine
- 92 pounds of methamphetamine
- 3,000 ecstasy pills
- 44 pounds of psilocybin (magic mushrooms)
- numerous ounces of ketamine
- three semi-automatic rifles with high-capacity magazines
- eight semi-automatic handguns
If convicted on all charges, each defendant faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum of life in prison.
The Sinaloa cartel also made headlines earlier this year as a former Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy was arrested for allegedly transporting more than 100 pounds of fentanyl pills for the organization.