Robert J. "Bob" Troester U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma
Naiqing Lin, a 37-year-old Chinese national residing in New York, has been sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for his involvement in a large-scale marijuana distribution conspiracy. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester following the culmination of a four-year investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations.
The investigation led to ten defendants being collectively sentenced to 463 months in federal prison. The operation involved the possession and distribution of over 1,000 kilograms of marijuana and more than 1,000 marijuana plants. On July 5, 2023, a federal Grand Jury indicted Naiqing Lin and several co-defendants on charges related to their roles in a black-market marijuana drug trafficking organization (DTO).
From January 2019 through May 2023, co-conspirators Fei Xie and Naigang Lin directed the DTO as business partners. They operated initially out of Michigan before relocating to Oklahoma due to law enforcement actions. In Oklahoma, they established operations that mirrored those in Michigan, including stash houses used for storing bulk amounts of marijuana prior to transportation out of state.
During the investigation, authorities seized approximately 3,500 pounds of marijuana, about 5,000 marijuana plants, over $400,000 in currency, $4.67 million in real property across ten properties, and ten vehicles.
On August 23, 2024, after a three-day trial, Naiqing Lin and Fei Xie were found guilty of drug conspiracy by a federal jury. At the sentencing hearing on April 29, 2025, U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton emphasized Naiqing's active role in the significant drug trafficking operation when imposing his sentence.
“This criminal organization exploited Oklahoma to expand their illicit large-scale black-market marijuana and money laundering operation across the country,” stated United States Attorney Robert J. Troester.
Travis Pickard from ICE Homeland Security Investigations Dallas highlighted that such sentences serve as reminders that illegal drug trafficking organizations will be held accountable: “Defendants like these who attempt to run illegal drug trafficking organizations will eventually account for their criminal activity."
Jared Murphey from ICE Homeland Security Investigations Detroit noted that this case marked the end of an extensive investigation dismantling a sophisticated black-market operation: “HSI special agents...exposed an illicit network that exploited communities and abused financial systems.”
Other defendants received various sentences ranging from supervised release for money laundering conspiracy to lengthy prison terms for drug conspiracy charges.
This case resulted from joint efforts by Homeland Security Investigations along with other agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations under an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) initiative aimed at disrupting high-level criminal networks threatening the United States.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nick Coffey, Travis Leverett, Danielle M. Connolly, and Thomas Snyder prosecuted this case.
Reference is made to public filings for additional information.
