Woman sentenced in $92 million laundering scheme

Shu Jun Zhen received nine years in prison in federal court in Charlotte after admitting she helped move drug trafficking proceeds.

A New York woman was sentenced Oct. 21 to nine years in federal prison for her role in a Chinese money laundering organization that handled more than $92 million in illicit funds, including drug trafficking proceeds, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina.

Shu Jun Zhen, 31, was also ordered to forfeit nearly $23 million. Prosecutors said she personally collected and deposited approximately that amount in bulk cash while working as a courier for the organization.

According to court documents cited by prosecutors, Zhen collected drug proceeds from U.S.-based traffickers and deposited the money into shell company bank accounts registered by other members of the organization. She used both real and fake identities to make the deposits.

The organization laundered proceeds from the importation and distribution of illegal drugs into the United States, primarily through Mexico, authorities said.

“Money launderers help drug traffickers evade the law by moving and concealing their profits, which is why it is critical that we investigate and prosecute them,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Zhen pleaded guilty in July 2025 to money laundering conspiracy, money laundering to conceal the nature and ownership of illicit proceeds, and engaging in a monetary transaction involving more than $10,000 in criminally derived property.

She admitted knowing the funds included drug trafficking proceeds, prosecutors said.

U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson said the organization moved more than $90 million in illicit funds in less than two years.

“We are attacking transnational criminal cartels on all fronts, including by dismantling Chinese money laundering networks that support them,” Ferguson said.

Zhen is the second defendant from the organization to receive a substantial prison sentence, according to the Justice Department. Another defendant previously received a 15-year sentence.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Charlotte District Office and IRS Criminal Investigation’s Charlotte Field Office investigated the case, with assistance from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.

“Money laundering organizations serve as the lifeblood of criminal enterprises, allowing illegal profits to be moved, concealed, and reinvested,” said Donald “Trey” Eakins, special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Charlotte Field Office.

Federal officials said the investigation was part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative, an interagency effort targeting cartels, transnational criminal organizations and trafficking networks.

Justice Department trial attorneys Jayce Born and Kenneth Kaplan and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nick Miller and Seth Johnson prosecuted the case.