Federal officials have charged a Chicago woman with laundering large volumes of suspected narcotics proceeds after a months-long investigation linked her to cash exchanges tied to Mexican drug cartels and Chinese cryptocurrency networks, according to a recently unsealed federal complaint.
Homeland Security Investigations arrested Xiao Mei of Canaryville on allegations that she coordinated a series of large cash exchanges in Chinatown and River North between February and July 2024. Prosecutors said Mei, described as a Chicago-based broker for a Chinese money-laundering network, regularly used WeChat to arrange pickups of bulk U.S. currency from associates of drug traffickers and transferred equivalent sums to China through cryptocurrency and “mirror transactions.”
Investigators said Mei’s alleged activity fits into a broader system used by Mexico-based money laundering and drug trafficking organizations, or MLDTOs, to conceal drug proceeds…