Christopher Urben, a former group supervisor with the Drug Enforcement Administration, testified before the Congressional House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services on April 26.
Urben discussed his involvement with the DEA and shared insights on how Chinese organized crime collaborates with Mexican cartels to finance the drug trade in the United States, according to a transcript of his testimony.
"Money is the lifeblood of the cartels, and the methods that Chinese organized crime was using enriched them and enabled them to traffic even more fentanyl and other deadly drugs into the United States," Urben said.
In 2018, Urben was working as a supervisor with the DEA Special Operations Division, which was investigating the "new and evolving threat" of drug cartels using Chinese organized crime groups to launder their money.
"Chinese organized crime would charge only one to two percent of the amount they were laundering, could deliver funds to the traffickers in their home countries immediately, and could guarantee payment of laundered funds," Urben said.
Urben testified that the Black-Market Peso Exchange (BMPE) was the most prevalent form of money laundering.
This scheme carried a high risk of violence, theft, or law enforcement intervention due to its links with cartels, he said. Urben explained that Chinese money brokers operating in the United States would transfer cash proceeds from drug sales such as fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine, to Chinese-owned companies in the U.S. These funds would then be used for investments in real estate, college tuition, gambling, or other ventures. Chinese customers in the U.S. who benefited from these funds would later reimburse their Chinese counterparts in China.
"The proceeds in China are used to buy goods for export to Mexico or South America, where the goods are sold by the Chinese brokers in Mexico to recoup their funds,” Urben said.
The BMPE presents several challenges for U.S. agencies, Urben said because it involves the use of local currencies and is difficult to distinguish from legitimate trade due to trade partnerships with China. The communication is mainly conducted through WeChat, which is "resistant to U.S. surveillance."
"Dollars don’t leave the U.S., pesos don’t leave Mexico, and RMB (renminbi) does not leave China," Urben said.
Urben urged Congress to support additional investigative resources and a renewed focus on tracking the money laundering scheme. He also suggested that Congress could empower the private sector to monitor organizations' compliance with anti-money laundering laws.
