Two Chinese nationals have been charged with conspiracy to launder money linked to two Mexico-based drug cartels, prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia announced on May 22.

Zhen Ruhuan and Wu Hongce are accused of laundering money on behalf of transnational criminal organizations, including the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels, between at least November 2016 and April 2025.

Over that period, Zhen and Wu allegedly worked with co-conspirators in the United States, Mexico, Latin America, China, and other places to launder “substantial volumes” of narcotics proceeds, including the sale and import of cocaine and fentanyl, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Together, they allegedly relied on several clandestine methods—including mirror transfers, foreign bank accounts, encrypted communications applications, a serial-number verification system, and trade-based money laundering—to conceal and move illicit funds, prosecutors said.

As of Friday, Zhen and Wu remain at large, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Zhen and Wu, indicted in April 2025 in Alexandria, Virginia, face up to 20 years in prison.

The Epoch Times was unable to contact the lawyers representing Zhen and Wu for comment.

In its 2026 National Money Laundering Risk Assessment, the U.S. Treasury Department said Chinese money laundering networks have “become the dominant” professional laundering groups for drug trafficking organizations and other transnational criminal organizations over the past decade. The report said the trend was driven in part by Chinese nationals seeking foreign currency to bypass China’s currency controls.

The assessment report said Chinese money-laundering brokers use networks of “money mules” across the United States to collect illicit cash proceeds and sell U.S. dollars to Chinese buyers via messaging platforms such as WeChat. Buyers transfer Chinese currency, known as yuan or renminbi, to accounts in China, while brokers distribute the funds to buyers in the United States via cash, checks, wire transfers, and, increasingly, digital assets such as stablecoins to avoid scrutiny.

Citing data from the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the assessment report notes that U.S. financial institutions filed more than 137,000 suspicious activity reports linked to Chinese money-laundering networks between January 2020 and December 2024, involving approximately $312 billion in suspicious transactions.

In an August 2025 advisory, FinCEN said Mexico-based cartels preferred Chinese money laundering networks because of their speed, effectiveness, and willingness to absorb losses and assume risks for clients.

The advisory asked financial institutions to be alert for red flags suggesting Mexican cartels are using Chinese money-laundering networks. These include Chinese nationals opening accounts under low-income occupations—such as student, retiree, or housewife—while possessing unexplained wealth.

FinCEN said in December 2025 that it had received more than 500 suspicious activity reports tied to Chinese money laundering networks since the advisory’s publication, involving roughly $7.1 billion in transactions between December 2018 and November 2025.

There have been other cases involving Chinese nationals in recent years.

In March, six Chinese nationals and two China-based pharmaceutical companies were indicted in Ohio for allegedly selling and delivering chemical agents used to manufacture and cut fentanyl. The defendants were also charged with money laundering conspiracy.

In January, a key member of a Chinese money laundering network was charged in Ohio with allegedly laundering tens of millions of dollars in drug proceeds. The defendant allegedly worked for Mexico-based drug trafficking organizations, including the Sinaloa cartel, from March 2022 to October 2024.