United States Drug Enforcement Administration

Shu Jun Zhen, 31, of New York, was sentenced today in the Western District of North Carolina to nine years in prison and ordered to forfeit nearly $23 million for her role in a Chinese money laundering organization (CMLO) that laundered over $92 million in illicit funds, including proceeds from the importation and distribution of illegal drugs into the United States, primarily through Mexico. This is the second defendant from this CMLO to receive a significant sentence. 

“This case demonstrates the power of coordinated law enforcement efforts through the Homeland Security Task Force,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Connolly of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Atlanta Field Division. “By combining our resources, expertise, and investigative capabilities, we are holding accountable those who facilitate drug trafficking and helping dismantle the financial networks that fuel these criminal organizations.”

“Money launderers help drug traffickers evade the law by moving and concealing their profits, which is why it is critical that we investigate and prosecute them,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Chinese money laundering networks are not peripheral to the drug trade – they are essential to its survival. As part of the Homeland Security Task Force Initiative, the Criminal Division is targeting every link in the drug trafficking supply chain to stop these criminals from poisoning Americans.”

“We are attacking transnational criminal cartels on all fronts, including by dismantling Chinese money laundering networks that support them,” said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson for the Western District of North Carolina. “Today, we sentenced an individual who laundered drug proceeds and funneled money back to these transnational criminal organizations — amounting to over $90 million of illicit funds in less than two years. These cases are complex, but they prove one thing — these sophisticated cartels are no match for the United States Department of Justice.”

“Money laundering organizations serve as the lifeblood of criminal enterprises, allowing illegal profits to be moved, concealed, and reinvested,” said Special Agent in Charge Donald “Trey” Eakins of IRS Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Charlotte Field Office. “Shu Jun Zhen played a significant role in laundering millions of dollars in illicit funds, helping criminal organizations move and conceal the proceeds of unlawful activity. We will continue working with our law enforcement partners to find, investigate, and prosecute individuals who enable the flow of criminal proceeds through the U.S. financial system.”

According to court documents, Zhen was a prolific courier for the CMLO. She collected drug trafficking proceeds from U.S.-based drug traffickers and deposited the money, using both real and fake identities, into shell company bank accounts registered by other members of the CMLO. As a courier, Zhen personally picked up and deposited approximately $23 million of illicit bulk cash.

Approximately $670,000 of U.S. currency and 12 firearms seized from a drug trafficking organization that used the CMLO for money laundering services.

In July 2025, Zhen pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy, one count of money laundering to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the illicit proceeds, and one count of engaging in a monetary transaction involving criminally derived property greater than $10,000. Zhen admitted that she knew the laundered funds included drug trafficking proceeds.

The DEA Charlotte District Office and the IRS-CI Charlotte Field Office are investigating the case. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation provided valuable assistance.

Trial Attorneys Jayce Born and Kenneth Kaplan of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section (MNF) and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nick Miller and Seth Johnson for the Western District of North Carolina are prosecuting the case.

MNF’s mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.

MNF’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Unit investigates and prosecutes the top command and control elements of international drug cartels, drug trafficking organizations and related transnational criminal organizations.

This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.