NEW YORK, NY — The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has announced the conviction of two Chinese nationals, Qingzhou Wang, 36, and Yiyi Chen, 32, for conspiring to import fentanyl precursors into the U.S. and laundering cryptocurrency payments tied to the operation.
Fentanyl Precursor Chemicals and Global Trafficking
Wang and Chen ran their operation through their company, Hubei Amarvel Biotech Co., Ltd., based in China. The company manufactured and exported precursor chemicals used in the production of fentanyl. These chemicals were openly marketed online to customers in Mexico, where drug cartels use them to make fentanyl, which is then smuggled into the U.S. and distributed.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted undercover operations and coordinated controlled purchases of fentanyl precursors from the duo. Despite being made aware of multiple American fatalities linked to fentanyl made with their chemicals, Wang and Chen continued their illegal activities, even offering advice on how to manufacture fentanyl.
Illegal Shipments and Significant Seizures
The pair was involved in the shipment of nearly one kilogram each of fentanyl precursors 1-boc-4-AP and 1-boc-4-piperidone, as well as nearly 900 grams of methylamine, a precursor for methamphetamine production. In 2023, Wang and Chen traveled to Bangkok, Thailand, where they met with an undercover DEA source to negotiate the shipment of 210 kilograms of fentanyl precursors—enough to produce 55 kilograms of fentanyl, which could result in 25 million lethal doses.
Cryptocurrency Laundering
Authorities also seized several domain names and cryptocurrency accounts linked to Hubei Amarvel Biotech, with a total of approximately $900,000 in illicit funds. The criminals laundered these proceeds through various cryptocurrency platforms, which have become a key method for international criminal enterprises to conceal their financial transactions.
Wang and Chen’s convictions serve as a significant step in the U.S. authorities’ ongoing battle to combat the global fentanyl crisis, which has contributed to thousands of overdose deaths in the U.S.
