Don Im, a former Special Agent in Charge for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), stated that Chinese money launderers are laundering as much as one trillion dollars' worth of drug proceeds every year. Im shared his statement during a July 25 meeting of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Fentanyl Working Group.
"So now what happens to that million dollars held by the Chinese New York network," said Im, according to the Select Committee on the CCP. "That person in their network will then structurally deposit that million dollars of cash throughout various bank accounts, restaurants, little shops, gas stations, laundry stores, and that one million dollars will then get pulled into one or two bank accounts… This happens every day, every week, throughout major drug markets in North America and Europe, and you're seeing literally half a trillion to three-quarters of a trillion dollars worth of drug proceeds generated every year."
During his testimony, Im described how Chinese money launderers operate, according to a video of his testimony. He said that they often start with a contract and will store cash in locations such as New York City apartments. The NYC cell will "contact his superior in Mexico and state that the cash had been counted and it’s ready for delivery." Then from the Mexico cell, operatives will reach out to "various Chinese Mexican businessmen who operate as money launderers and money brokers." These individuals often own businesses, shopping centers, or sell products from China, and commit the money laundering with a 3% commission.
According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), Chinese money launderers "have emerged as a central element of a financial scheme that takes bulk U.S. dollars received from drug operations in the U.S. and returns the profits to cartels in Mexico." FDD said the "scheme involves the largest banks in China, which are also the largest banks in the world." In 2021, Admiral Craig Fuller, then-commander of U.S. Southern Command, said during testimony before Congress that Chinese money laundering is "the number one underwriter of transnational criminal organizations."
According to the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), money laundering "involves disguising financial assets so they can be used without detection of the illegal activity that produced them." Through money laundering, criminals transform monetary proceeds derived from criminal activity into funds with an apparently legal source. Criminals utilize and "manipulate financial systems" in the U.S. to "further a wide array of illicit activities," enabling "drug dealers, terrorists, arms dealers, and other criminals to operate and expand their criminal enterprises."
Im is currently a senior at CACI International Inc., an IT services and IT counseling company, according to LinkedIn. He previously served as a special agent in charge, group supervisor, and intelligence analyst for the DEA.
