Qinliang Chen, Money Laundering, Massachusetts 2024

A sophisticated international money laundering and drug trafficking organization has been dismantled in part thanks to the guilty plea of Qinliang Chen, a 34-year-old man from Rosemead, California.

Chen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in a Boston courtroom on Wednesday, July 9, 2024.

The case against Chen and 11 other individuals from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and California began in May 2023, when a superseding indictment was unsealed, charging them with various crimes related to the organization.

The organization, allegedly led by Jin Hua Zhang, was first detected in 2021 in the greater Boston area, as well as throughout the United States and overseas. According to court documents, Zhang's organization laundered at least $25 million worth of drug proceeds and funds from other illegal businesses in less than a year.

Chen served as a courier for the organization, delivering large sums of cash on their behalf. In August and September 2022, Chen was sent to deliver $125,000 and $161,000 in cash, respectively, to a cooperating witness in Altamonte Springs, Florida.

Chen's guilty plea comes after he was previously stopped at Orlando International Airport trying to bring $99,000 in cash through a security checkpoint. Zhang, the alleged leader of the organization, pleaded guilty in September 2023 and is scheduled to be sentenced in May 2024.

The charge of money laundering conspiracy carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $500,000, or twice the amount involved, whichever is greater.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/california-man-pleads-guilty-role-international-money-laundering-conspiracy