New York Woman Gets Nine Years in Charlotte Court for Laundering $92 Million in Drug Money

Shu Jun Zhen, 31, of New York, was sentenced in the Western District of North Carolina in Charlotte to nine years in prison and ordered to forfeit nearly $23 million (yaani about $2.3 crore dollars) for her role in a Chinese money laundering organization that laundered over $92 million (yaani about $9.2 crore dollars) in illicit funds, including drug trafficking proceeds brought into the United States primarily through Mexico, the Justice Department said. Zhen personally picked up and deposited about $23 million of illicit bulk cash as a courier, according to court documents.

Awaaz Punjab Investigations Desk24 October 20263 min readRead in all 3 languages

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — A New York woman has been sentenced to nine years in prison in federal court in Charlotte for laundering drug trafficking proceeds for a Chinese money laundering organization. Shu Jun Zhen, 31, was sentenced in the Western District of North Carolina and ordered to forfeit nearly $23 million, the U.S. Department of Justice said. This is the second defendant from the organization to receive a significant sentence.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of North Carolina

According to court documents, Zhen was a prolific courier for the organization. She collected drug trafficking proceeds from U.S.-based drug traffickers and deposited the money, using both real and fake identities, into shell company bank accounts registered by other members of the organization. Zhen personally picked up and deposited approximately $23 million of illicit bulk cash. Traders Union reported the same nine-year sentence, the nearly $23 million forfeiture and the July 2025 guilty plea in its coverage of the sentencing.

Source: Traders Union, Oct. 21, 2026

In July 2025, Zhen pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy, one count of money laundering to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership and control of the illicit proceeds, and one count of engaging in a monetary transaction involving criminally derived property greater than $10,000. Zhen admitted she knew the laundered funds included drug trafficking proceeds, the department said.

"Money launderers help drug traffickers evade the law by moving and concealing their profits," said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson for the Western District of North Carolina said the organization laundered over $90 million of illicit funds in less than two years.

The case was investigated by the DEA Charlotte District Office and the IRS Criminal Investigation Charlotte Field Office, with assistance from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, as part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative, the department said.

Sources