On October 21, 2026, a federal court in the Western District of North Carolina sentenced 31-year-old New York resident Shu Jun Zhen to nine years in prison for her role in a Chinese Money Laundering Organization (CMLO). The organization laundered more than $92 million—including proceeds from the importation and distribution of illegal drugs into the United States, primarily via Mexico. The court also ordered the forfeiture of nearly $23 million.
According to court documents, Zhen served as a courier for the organization. She collected drug-trafficking proceeds from traffickers based in the United States and deposited the funds—using both real and false identities—into bank accounts belonging to shell companies established by other members of the CMLO. In her capacity as a courier, she personally collected and deposited approximately $23 million in illicit cash.
In July 2025, Zhen pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, one count of money laundering (aimed at concealing the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of illicit proceeds), and one count of conducting a monetary transaction exceeding $10,000 involving property derived from criminal activity. She admitted to knowing that the laundered funds included proceeds from drug trafficking.
This is the second individual from this organization to receive a sentence of this magnitude, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
“Money launderers help drug traffickers evade the law by moving and concealing their proceeds, which is why it is critical that we investigate and prosecute them,” stated A. Tysen Duva, an Assistant Attorney General in the DOJ’s Criminal Division. “Chinese money-laundering networks are not peripheral to drug trafficking; they are essential to its survival.”
Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, stated that the conviction involved an individual who “laundered drug-trafficking proceeds and funneled money back to these transnational criminal organizations”—an amount exceeding $90 million in less than two years.
The investigation was led by the Charlotte offices of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), with support from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. During the course of the case, authorities seized approximately $670,000 in cash and 12 firearms from a drug-trafficking organization that utilized the money-laundering services of the CMLO.
