Chinese National Convicted for Laundering U.S. Cash for Mexican Cartels

A federal court in Virginia sentenced a Chinese man to five years in prison for his role in a money-laundering scheme involving Mexican cartels. The judge also ordered the man to forfeit more than $4 million in proceeds from “large-scale drug trafficking in the United States.”

U.S. District Court Judge Leonie B. Brinkema (Eastern District of Virginia) sentenced 40-year-old Chinese national Xueyong Wu, a.k.a “Antonio,” to five years in a federal prison and ordered him to forfeit more than $4.2 million for his role in a money-laundering conspiracy and trafficking of cocaine, according to information obtained from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Prosecutors said Wu developed relationships with Latin American drug trafficking organizations for the purpose of repatriating the proceeds of sales in the United States to Mexico. Wu helped move money, mostly generated from the sale of cocaine in the Eastern District of Virginia.

A criminal complaint obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed that Wu utilized his partnership in a Guatemalan casino, the Golden Video Loteria, to launder proceeds. He also used the casino to establish credibility with the cartels as collateral.

Prosecutors said the organization laundered at least $30 million in 2017.

Wu worked with multiple co-conspirators in the scheme and received a percentage of the trafficked funds for his efforts.

Federal agents arrested Wu on December 11, 2019, as he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on a return flight from China. Wu admitted to investigators his knowledge of the co-conspirators, their operations. He also admitted to being a part-owner of the casino before asking for an attorney.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.