U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman sentenced a Chinese national to 10 years in federal prison for laundering $62 million on behalf of drug traffickers in Mexico, the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois announced today.
From 2016 to 2018, Haiping Pan, 44, facilitated the money transfers while residing in Guadalajara, Mexico, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. He was arrested in Mexico and extradited to the U.S. in 2022, the department confirmed.
According to the department, Pan conspired with others to launder up to $3 million per month in drug proceeds.
The scheme involved secretive money pickups in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and other U.S. cities, followed by currency swaps between the United States, China, and Mexico, the department stated.
Pan played a key role in the money laundering scheme, using his international financial expertise and connections with Mexican drug cartel associates to move drug proceeds through businesses and banks worldwide, the department said.