U.S. authorities took motion towards a number of China-based corporations and people implicated within the fentanyl commerce on Oct. 3.
The Division of Justice (DOJ) announced that it has unsealed eight indictments on crimes associated to the manufacturing of fentanyl and methamphetamine, the distribution of artificial opioids, and gross sales associated to precursor chemical compounds.
Although contributors used a wide range of cost strategies, the DOJ mentioned that these concerned within the crimes integrated cryptocurrency into their money flows. It famous that crypto transactions allowed contributors to hide their identities and obscure cash trails.
The company particularly said that two people linked to Hebei Shenghao Import and Export Firm — Qingsong Li and Chunhui Chen — held crypto wallets for remittances associated to precursor chemical compounds utilized in drug manufacturing.
The DOJ mentioned that one other particular person, Wei Zhang, acted in reference to Hubei Guanlang Biotechnology Firm. Zhang is alleged to have operated a crypto pockets that facilitated transactions for gross sales of fentanyl precursors and opioid components.
New Treasury sanctions
A separate assertion from the Treasury’s Workplace of Overseas Property Management (OFAC) imposed sanctions on numerous events concerned in drug transactions.
The sanctions listing restricts a complete of 19 cryptocurrency addresses together with wallets holding Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), and Tron (TRX).
Although the Treasury’s sanctions goal 28 corporations and people, nearly all of the above crypto addresses belong to simply 5 people, who’re in flip linked to corporations concerned within the fentanyl and drug commerce. 4 of these crypto addresses additionally belong to an organization in Vancouver, Canada referred to as Valerian Labs.
Moreover, the Treasury imposed sanctions on Du Changgen, recognized because the chief of the legal drug syndicate. It said that Changgen has personally obtained cryptocurrency however didn’t embody any crypto addresses belonging to Changgen within the sanctions lists.
There have been a number of current developments regarding the usage of cryptocurrency within the fentanyl commerce. The DOJ famous that it took different motion towards Chinese language fentanyl corporations in June; a few of these entities additionally utilized crypto funds.
Outdoors of legislation enforcement, the blockchain evaluation agency Elliptic highlighted the problem in May 2023, main U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren to call for action later that month.
The put up U.S. Department of Justice charges eight Chinese companies using crypto to facilitate fentanyl trade appeared first on CryptoSlate.
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