Qixian Wu, Marijuana Trafficking, Washington 2023

Seattle – A father and son duo, Qixian Wu, 59, and Yong Cong Wu, 30, have been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for their illicit marijuana business in Seattle. The two men pleaded guilty in November 2023 to conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman stated that the Wu family continued to illegally grow and sell marijuana, some of it tainted with illegal pesticides, even after multiple visits from state regulators. The men operated a licensed marijuana production business, New Direction, located on West Marginal Way SW, and a gardening store, Affordable Indoor Growing Supplies (AIG), which provided marijuana grow equipment to other illegal growers.

Inspectors from the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) seized all the product at New Direction in October 2018 after finding irregularities in reports and samples tested with illegal pesticides. Despite the regulatory attention, the Wu family did not change operations and continued to falsify reports.

The men also used a casino next to the gardening store to launder the funds derived from their illicit marijuana sales. When investigators searched the home and businesses associated with the Wu family in October 2020, they seized over 3,000 marijuana plants, 100 kilograms of processed marijuana, $69,456 in cash, and $34,800 in money orders. At the Wu family residence, investigators seized $152,631 in cash, eleven firearms, and two luxury cars worth over $235,000.

As part of their sentence, the defendants are forfeiting the commercial property that facilitated their illicit conspiracy, two luxury cars, and about $250,000 in cash as proceeds of crime. The defendants also agreed to abandon the firearms seized from the family residence. Both men will be on three years of supervised release following their prison terms.

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation, which aims to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level criminal organizations threatening the United States. The case was investigated by U.S. Postal Inspection Service, King County Sheriff’s Office, and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joe Silvio.

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