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The arrests come after a months-long undercover investigation that followed how the organization moved kilos of cocaine and MDMA from Massachusetts and distributed it throughout the country, the US Attorney for Massachusetts said. The suspects thought they could hide the millions of dollars they made using cryptocurrency to avoid raising any alarms at a traditional bank, federal investigators said. Though, they didn't know their crypto brokers were undercover federal agents who kept track of where the money came from and where it went.
Agents said Jin Hua Zhang, 35, of Staten Island, NY, managed the operation with its connections in Hong Kong and elsewhere in China, India, Cambodia, and Brazil, among other locations.
Agents arrested the following people in the scheme:
- Licheng Huang, 39, of Braintree, Mass.;
- Feng Chen, 38, of Canton, Mass.;
- Roger Luo, 35, of Winthrop, Mass.;
- Thong Nguyen, 28, of Saugus, Mass.;
- Augustin Villa, 59, of Cranston, RI;
- Jin Hua Zhang, 35, of Staten Island, NY;
- Rongjian Li, 35, of Staten Island, NY;
- Yanbing Chen, 28, of Staten Island, NY;
Three other suspects in the scheme are on the run from investigators, the Department of Justice said.
“Today’s arrests by FBI Boston’s Organized Crime Task Force have disrupted a sophisticated transnational criminal organization that is accused of trafficking kilos of cocaine and laundering at least $25 million in illicit proceeds from their illegal businesses all over the world,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division. “Now, these individuals know the FBI is just as committed to eradicating organized crime as this group was to allegedly embracing it. This investigation should be a warning to others engaged in similar conduct: we will infiltrate your network, shut you down, and bring you to justice, no matter where you are.”
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