A federal grand jury in Florence, South Carolina, returned an indictment on April 22, charging Nasir Ullah, 28, and Naim Ullah, 32, both of Sumter, South Carolina, and Puquan Huang, 49, of Buford, Georgia, with conspiring to launder millions of dollars of proceeds derived from drug trafficking.
“As alleged in the indictment, the defendants laundered tens of millions of dollars in drug proceeds from the United States through China and the Middle East, enabling a continuous flow of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs into our country from Mexico,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Galeotti added, “Dismantling transnational criminal organizations and Chinese Money Laundering Organizations that support them is a critical priority for the Department. Alongside DEA and our local law enforcement partners, we will continue to prosecute the financial networks that fuel illegal drug trade and profit from the sale of deadly substances.”
According to court documents, unsealed today, Ullah, Naim Ullah, and Huang allegedly worked for a money laundering organisation that laundered at least $30 million in proceeds related to the distribution of illegal drugs, including cocaine and fentanyl, which were unlawfully imported into the United States, typically through Mexico.
Ullah, Naim Ullah, Huang, and their co-conspirators allegedly travelled throughout the United States to collect drug proceeds.
They communicated with co-conspirators in China to arrange for the laundering of these proceeds through transactions designed to conceal the illegal source of the proceeds, including disguising the source of the drug proceeds by moving money through the shipment of electronic goods to China and the Middle East.
Ullah, Naim Ullah, and Huang are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
