A Georgia man entered a guilty plea to a multi-million money laundering scheme involving drug money for two powerful Mexican cartels, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. File Photo by Ulises Ruiz Basurto/EPA-EFE
Oct. 30 (UPI) — A Georgia man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to his connection to a plot with a co-conspirator to launder millions of dollars for powerful Mexican drug cartels, the Justice Department said.
Li Pei Tan, 46, of Buford, Ga., entered a guilty plea in the money laundering scheme that moved cash for the likes of the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion.
He and Chinese national Chaojie Chen, 41, who operated out of Chicago, traveled throughout the United States to collect money from the trafficking of fentanyl, cocaine and other drugs, the Justice Department said.
They worked through connections in China and other foreign countries in a “sophisticated trade-based money laundering scheme” in included the purchase of bulk electronics to cloak the proceeds from its original source.
Chen was arrested in May and entered an early guilty plea in August. Tan was eventually arrested in South Carolina while attempting to transport nearly $200,000 in drug proceeds. They both entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to commit money laundering and agreed to forfeit numerous assets to the government.
“According to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Drug Threat Assessment, the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels are at the heart of the fentanyl crisis in the United States,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
“As part of their pleas, Tan and Chen agreed to forfeit numerous assets, including a residence, a firearm, body armor, and more than $270,000 in seized currency.”
Chen will be sentenced on Nov. 14 and Tan on Feb. 7. They both face a maximum of 20 years in prison.