The Treasury Department has confirmed a national security and public safety disaster: Chinese money-laundering networks have pushed more than $312 billion in illicit transactions through U.S. financial institutions in recent years.
That money financed Mexican drug cartels, enabled human traffickers, and supported organized criminal networks that have left tens of thousands of Americans dead from fentanyl overdoses and other cartel-driven violence.
According to FINCEN.gov, financial institutions filed 1,675 BSA reports in the dataset indicating suspicious activity potentially involving human trafficking or human smuggling.
FINCEN.gov also discovered funds potentially associated with healthcare fraud, elder abuse, and suspicious gaming activity.
What makes these Chinese Money Laundering Networks (CMLNs) especially dangerous is their coordination with Mexico’s most violent cartels, including the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation organizations.
Mexico’s strict limits on U.S. dollar deposits force cartels to look abroad, while China’s own capital controls make moving money out of the country nearly impossible through legal channels.
Criminals found the perfect solution: CMLNs convert cartel drug profits in dollars into Chinese renminbi and then cycle those funds back into the U.S. banking system.
The cartels get clean money. China’s elites get access to American assets. And Americans pay the price in drug overdoses, gang violence, and financial corruption.
Delusions of Adequacy 