by Matthew Ormseth at Los Angeles Times
With millions in cash piling up in the United States, the Sinaloa cartel needed to funnel proceeds from the sale of fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine back to Mexico.
Federal prosecutors say a ring of Chinese nationals in the San Gabriel Valley offered a solution: marrying the Sinaloans’ glut of bulk cash in Greater Los Angeles with a demand from wealthy residents of China to transfer their money to the United States.
U.S. Atty. E. Martin Estrada announced Tuesday that a grand jury has charged 24 defendants — drug traffickers, couriers, bagmen and brokers — with conspiring to distribute drugs, money laundering and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
The indictment described a straightforward system to transfer wealth out of China. The Chinese government has restricted the flow of assets out of the country, creating an underground market for U.S. dollars that drug traffickers need to transfer back to Mexico without using conventional banking systems.
Chinese nationals are generally restricted from moving…